InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Steve"

Syd(ney) Barrett (_donttouch) wrote,
@ 2017-05-17 21:08:00

And, as they had discussed, the next day was back to work. She had gone to Cary first, the intention to find Kerry, but with a pleasant sidetrack of talking with the scientist. He did, in fact, have some poking and testing that he wanted to do --something about more theories that the journal brought up -- so Syd forced herself to stay still for the prodding. It worked, for the most part, particularly after Cary saw her trying and eased the tension with a little talk. Simple stuff, how he thought she could continue harnessing her ability and an unknown echo of
what Hank had said about part of it being psychological. The conversation also turned toward the light saber, with questions about whether she felt any after effects and if she'd like to continue working with that. Knowing all too well the stability that came with knowing the person you cared about could take care of herself, Cary saw nothing wrong in giving both Sydney and David that peace of mind. Just in case. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worse.

Syd, naturally, was pleased to continue being his guinea pig in that respect.

Afterward, it was Ptonomy she found next, which was actually perfect because she needed to bribe him into a favor soon. And what could she possibly offer the memory man? Pancakes. He loved them but couldn't cook them. Baking was apparently more his bag. So favor was exchanged for favor, and she couldn't quite help herself in innocently asking about yesterday afternoon, which had him looking at her suspiciously before she flitted away.

It all led her to Kerry, who had been heading over to Cary and her punching bag. But sparring was so much more fun. So that was exactly what they did, an hour and a half of moving and trying to best one another, moves and tips given from the younger girl as Sydney tried to get one over her. Still didn't work; the student still had much to learn from the master. They were about to switch when Kerry brought up a good point; had she tried with someone else? Other than David, because Kerry liked not having an explosion to worry about, thanks. Syd snorted, giving a shrug, but then she got to thinking about it. Maybe she should change it up. "I should find Rudy or Ptonomy and ask."

"Yeah, you should." Kerry thought that could possibly be interesting, grinning. "You get a hold on telekinesis and could toss things at me." Rudy wouldn't.

With that thought in mind, Syd wandered over to David's bedroom, figuring he wasn't there yet but would pop his head in relatively soon. She debated telling him about the newest plan, or letting him suss it out. Mostly because she was curious whether people were the same to him when they were switched. Humming, she plopped on the bed and sat cross-legged, going over various ideas in her head as she waited.

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_donttouch
2017-05-20 08:13 pm UTC (link)

She nodded then, satisfied with his answer. "Good." Gauging multiple responses from one's self must have been annoying. And frustrating. Poor guy. But maybe, like she thought at the beginning, hearing voices was just his thing. It was what it was and she'd help and accept where she could.

Nudging into David gently, she smiled down and -- "God, I am really short." She tried to remember the other people she had jumped into, none of them quite as tall as David. "Before you, I think the tallest I've been is five nine. The shortest the lower end of four feet. But she was still growing."

Thoughtful for a second, she took the lead this time and made their way over to the living area with the piano. "Do you know the basics of the piano, or did you just focus on learning that one song?" She asked curiously while sliding onto the bench, leaving room for him as well.

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xgene
2017-05-20 08:32 pm UTC (link)

It was what it was. If it was his lot in life to be crazy, he'd be crazy. Having never dreamed of being anything else, he figured he'd let the minor disappointment in it go with whatever flow life took him in. If anything it balanced the 'extraordinary' part of it all. As long as each of the personas in his head were on the same team? It wasn't so bad. Sure, two of them were unsettling, one outright scaring him, but they had the same interests in mind and David would just have to trust in that. He'd have to learn how to rule over himself somehow or another, because fearing oneself couldn't be healthy.

Laughing a little at the short commentary, he shrugged Syd's shoulders and stated his opinion on it: "I think you're perfect exactly as you are." A typical line, but true nonetheless. "I don't think I'd want to try being shorter though. Or dealing with growing pains again. I was pretty average height until eighteen through twenty and suddenly bam. Six foot." As a kid he'd been excited about the prospect of being tall, but not so much the actual bones doing the growing and aching whenever he could actually feel it. Drugs had a handy effect of making that go away too.

Ah, the piano, the sight of it had David smirking and joining on the bench with ease. "I learned the basics. If you can count it as a song, I learned Mary Had a Little Lamb too just so I could get the whole thing down." Of course, looking at his hands, Syd's hands, another laugh came. "I don't think I'm gonna now how to play with these though. I have a nine-key reach with my hands. You really, really don't." But all Mary Had a Little Lamb needed was the stabbing method, so he started there.

Finding the right keys, left hand up, David sang along with the keys to the tune, not overthinking the complete change in pitch from his own voice: "B-A-G-A-BBB-AAA-B-DD-B-A-G-A-BBB-A-A-B-A-G." And holding the last G for a longer time, that was that! "Once I got to memorizing all the keys," further explained, motioning to the whole layout, another shrug followed, "then I focused on Galloping Gertie because it was just the best."

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_donttouch
2017-05-20 08:55 pm UTC (link)

A smirk crossing her features, Syd rolled her eyes at the comment of being perfect. "I'm used to it, anyway." Stated with a chuckle. Then she lifted her eyebrows, not even thinking about growing pains. "Didn't really have those. Then again, I was as tall at sixteen as I am now." Her growth spurts shouldn't have even been counted, even though they were. "My mother's five three, I think she said my father was five nine. So I didn't have much of a chance."

"The piano is not one of my instruments for that reason." She laughed, sitting and listening to him sing along with the tune in her voice. As someone who didn't listen to her voice from an outside source very much, it was still very interesting. Strange. She smiled, head tilting down, and shook her head. "It is the best."

This time it was her turn not to overthink it, fingers put on the keys and finding their way to the proper placing naturally. Then, not entirely graceful but not bad either, she played the major scales. And, to see if she could, recreated Mary Had a Little Lamb as well. Humming the tune -- and grinning a little at the vibration again, Syd recreated that fairly well too.

"The body has its own memory," she explained in return with a smile. "So sometimes I just sort of know basic things that the other people know so well."

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xgene
2017-05-20 09:14 pm UTC (link)

"Got to love those genetics." Setting the world against you, one way or another. Now that he could discount everything in the Haller family line he'd looked into, that left Xavier and the unknown, potentially Israeli, mother side of the issue. Part of David wondered if she was a mutant too, wondering the same thing probably every mutant thought at one point: did two mutant parents guarantee a mutant child? Or was it always luck of the draw at this point, human genetics just fucking up at random, somehow giving both gifts and curses. Right up there alongside mental instability and an addictive personality. In David's case, at least.

The Hallers had all seemed so completely balanced, so completely normal, that it'd made him feel like a true genetic freakazoid. Now at least he could explain why he could curl his tongue and no one else in the family could -- that was a genetic thing too. Whether Xavier and his family had any of the madness or addictions, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Jury was still out on the mother too.

Watching his own hands, Syd driving, finding the keys and playing, David couldn't help but grin. The humming was interesting, as was the notion of the body having its own memory. "Shame I don't know more for you to test out. Apart from being clumsy, this is just about the only other skill that I have." No time had been dedicated to anything else whatsoever. It'd been pointless to bother, so he didn't. Why improve yourself when you were nothing and always would be nothing? The piano had served its purpose, had allowed for a bit of mental and emotional reprieve for Amy when things had been dark for the both of them, and then it was back to business as usual -- disappearing into a world of lies, theft, and drug use.

Back to being invisible because that was easier. Not caring whether he woke up or not, knowing with every fiber of his being that it'd probably be better if he never did. At the very least, out of sight, out of mind had been the mantra for a time, outside of the odd gift (birthdays, Hanukkah, etc.) left at Amy's doorstep. Out of sight, not entirely out of mind for those points.

Yeah, there wasn't much else his body could have any memory of. Except one thing. "If you ever wanted to try lockpicking in a body that's done it before, that might count, I guess." A rueful smile came about then, looking up to Syd-as-himself. "I didn't always brute force my way in." Like he had at Dr. Poole's office, the memory Syd, Melanie, and Ptonomy had seen before he dragged Syd into the astral plane. At that point in his life he'd been too impatient, too strung out to care about being delicate.

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_donttouch
2017-05-20 09:36 pm UTC (link)

"And the crapshoots it takes to dictate our lives." If she had a glass, she'd have raised it up for a mock toast. And yeah, it was probably the curiosity of almost all mutants everywhere -- where the fuck did I pick this up? It was, frankly, the only reason she had asked about the sperm donor, though the answers given weren't exactly what she had been looking for. Nothing substantial. She supposed she should have asked more plainly. Eh. Didn't much matter if the guy did or didn't, though. Too late for all that.

Chuckling, she shrugged up a shoulder. "I just wanted to see if it was true with us too." She paused though, looking rather interested in the idea of attempting lock-picking. "I might take you up on that later." ..What? It could come in handy one day. Granted, less handy when you were dating someone who could move shit with their minds, but handy all the same. It was important to have options or whatever.

"All my skills border on violent," Droll tone in David's voice, which amused her because it was sort of an unusual sound. "So I can't suggest anything to see if it works in reverse." Invisible was, in fact, easier. Easier to stay away from people, to keep to yourself. "Unless you want to take over the hotwiring." His mouth pulling off her move, quirking up in a half smile at the statement while head tilted down toward the keys before lifting back up to look over.

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xgene
2017-05-20 10:34 pm UTC (link)

It was a little surprising to hear Syd say she might take him up on the matter of lockpicking, but then again, if she had any skill with hotwiring, obviously they were a match made in heaven. That'd already been established as far as David was concerned, but that little extra ever hurt to learn about. It certainly kept his smile going, additionally amused as hell to see one of Syd's trademark smiles on his own face. "Maybe I will." A beat. "It really is good we didn't meet as teenagers." Worth reiterating. They would've fed into each other's bad habits way, way too much.

Not that he'd imagine Syd would've been able to stand him all that much back then. No one could. He hadn't exactly been a likeable person when he was sober, and when he wasn't? Well, not much for conversation when you were so low that there was no such thing as feelings any more. Or thoughts. Or much of anything really.

Hands brought up to the piano again, David tried to imagine trying to play that one song with her key reach, even going slow, he found he couldn't manage it at all. "Jeez," at that another laugh came about, followed by a shake of the head. "Hope no one comes around while we're all out of sorts. I won't be ready for the concert." The last an obvious joke, but overall he meant the statement in the most benign of ways. There was always the potential of something more aggressive that could happen, considering Division 3 and their general jumpiness. Clark had been good to his word so far on that front, keeping communication open, but even if he stopped by, that'd be a hell of a fun talk.

A quick glance out the window showed that it'd finally started snowing, a sight that had David sighing, shoulders slouching a little. "Doubt it'll happen though if that keeps up. Unless someone wants to fly in." Out in the higher country like this, thick trees, distance from any big roads, the more snow that came in, the more difficult it would be to reach this place. In the time between going on their roadtrip and coming back, it seemed more students of various kinds had come here, willing to wait out the winter with the resources of Summerland, ready to continue learning about themselves and their abilities without having to risk the weather.

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_donttouch
2017-05-21 02:48 am UTC (link)

Laughing quietly, she looked back at the piano keys, straight ahead for a moment before glancing back over. "Cars and locks of the past, beware." Bad habit encouragement and delinquent adventures. Bonnie and Clyde in their teenage years. Less bank robbing and death, though. More road trips in 'borrowed' cars and 'exploration.' At least, she thought. That was, of course, if either would have been able or willing to talk to one another to begin with. Sullen anger at the world didn't make her the best conversationalist.

Then she was watching her hands on the keys, snorting in amusement. "That just looks weird. And yeah, no company for a little bit. It's like having a messy house right now." She was rolling with the benign commentary as well. Cassandra visions were for the future, though she made mental note that they still had to bring that up. "I wonder what literally flying would be like, especially in the weather. Are people who can fly naturally warmer?" They should be, she thought. Flying with heavy coats and such seemed just mean.

"Remind me to ask when we meet a flyer." She smiled. They would eventually, she was sure of it.

The slouching shoulders didn't go unnoticed. Syd leaned in, pressing a kiss to her own shoulder -- his shoulder right now. "This too shall pass. And then it's springtime and warmth." A pause, "And maybe a day trip or two to the warmth if you feel up to it."

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xgene
2017-05-21 03:08 am UTC (link)

Sullen anger indeed. Sullen anger and outright vitriol at the world. Which made the now so much better, even with all its complexities and body swapping and multiple personas. There'd been a moment in today's meeting with the Birds, after confessing what was happening to him, if it was even a good idea to have him be involved in this... war they were in. Wasn't he the exact example of what a mutant shouldn't be? All crazy and too much crammed into one package, the pinnacle of bad examples?

Melanie had said something to the effect of her being concerned, but that they didn't have much of a choice. Oliver seemed thoughtful, but his expression and lack of commentary overall meant that he wasn't sure. Or so David read it to mean. Of course, he was also kind of bad at reading people. Bad at people in general. All that sullen anger and vitriol, hearing people's thoughts and not knowing it was their thoughts. Noise. Symbols clashing. Drums.

"I wonder if I could fly," he wondered aloud after a moment. "Levitating is easy, I wonder if that could be pushed to flying." David wasn't entirely sure how much he wanted to push that though. The thought of flying, or rather, of falling, was a little too unnerving. A hand moved to rest on Syd's, his, arm though, testing the warmth even as eyes remained outside. "Average warmth. Probably not."

The kiss brought about a small smile, one that stated how silly he knew he was being. It was just bad weather. And yet...

"Day trips might be needed. Or just a few hours of sunlight somewhere. Or hiding under blankets. I'm cool with hiding under every blanket ever." Looking back to Syd, he shrugged a little. "I doubt it's even the chemistry of my brain to blame; I just hate shorter days, darker days." Autumn was fine, with its pretty leaves and all. Winter had zero redeeming qualities outside of the fact that now he was determined to get in at least one epic snowball fight. At least now he was more certain Rudy would partake, all the while looking completely blase about it.

Studying his face again for a moment, David couldn't help but laugh a little again and shake his head. "God, it really is weird. Seeing this," he motioned between them, "knowing it's real. Without any doubts this time." It'd been a 50/50 split the first time, unnerving and exciting all at once. More difficult to comprehend without seeing himself though.

"Thank you," said suddenly after another moment of study. "For helping me through my whole 'real or not real' thing." A beat, followed by another apologetic smile. "Those moments, that dash of paranoia? They're getting fewer and farther between because of you." Which was equally comforting and terrifying, that last tidbit of paranoia clinging on for dear life, too afraid of what could be in all this. After all, what if the world was just as malleable as the astral plane? Making your own reality as you went?

No. No, that was stupid. That wasn't something he could do. Time travel was one thing, but the manipulation of reality itself? No. Stupid thought. Stupid.

But maybe...

Stupid.

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_donttouch
2017-05-21 03:31 am UTC (link)

They were all bad examples. Bad News Bears and island of misfit toys. But frankly, that was what made them human. In spite of what Emma Frost thought, or people like her, they weren't more than. Love and fear and everything in between ran through their hearts and heads just the same. They were different than. And everybody was fucking different. Snowflakes. The same stuff, individual patterns.

"Uh-oh. There I go, giving you ideas." She grinned a little, enjoying the feeling of shared fingers against shared arms. "And you would freeze, my love." The mention of sunlight and daytrips made her smile, but blankets -- blanket forts -- made her want to grin as bright as David normally did. However, she kept it cool, thoughts and plans for funnest times. "I think we can find a blanket or two around here." Simply promised. No big deal.

Head tilting to one side, Syd lifted her eyebrows, and then nodded with a quiet laugh. "Very real." She took her own pause, smiling and offering a shrug for the thanks. "I do what I can. Though, idle curiosity makes me wonder how you would have taken it if you weren't a mutant." She would have told him, eventually, even if he hadn't shared that part of her life.

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xgene
2017-05-21 04:02 am UTC (link)

"Yeah, must be cold up there." In the clouds. On second thought, nah. Maybe he'd never try flying. Even if he could, he'd just be cold and terrified. Why bother when you could just teleport or go on a road trip with your girlfriend who enjoyed driving? Problem solved. Instant trip to somewhere warm, somewhere where the sun was still shining, where the air didn't make your face hurt. Why did he live somewhere where the air could make his face hurt?

Blankets. Warmth. Yeah, now David was actually getting ideas. Thick blankets, everywhere, heavy and comforting. He didn't even need to crave sleep to recollect the number of times he'd simply laid in a bed, when he had one, and hid under the covers, as much weight added to them as possible. It wasn't that he was a naturally cold person, it just felt better when he knew it was cold outside. As if, somehow, that knowledge affected him biologically. Funny how the brain worked, how it could skew your perception.

Again, stupid.

"If I wasn't a mutant..." That part was repeated thoughtfully. "I don't know. If I wasn't a mutant, I don't even know who I'd be." It'd played such a massive role in his life. Would he still have gotten addicted to everything? Still been a completely awful human being because of it? "I'd like to think I'd be okay with it all though." A beat. "I was a pretty chill kid." Which was the only time he had to compare to, before anything manifested, while Farouk was still too weak inside of him to do anything. "As long as we could keep making bubbles and enjoying the sunlight, I'd be good."

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_donttouch
2017-05-21 04:19 am UTC (link)

Syd was a child who hid under covers with flashlights, pink and softly lit, whiling away the hours reading or otherwise just being able to be one with the blankets. She loved the extra weight of them, comforted by it after a difficult day of trying not to be a difficult kid. And instead of growing out of it, she just grew better. Blankets became forts, fortresses against the world. And she still hadn't really grown out of that; just hadn't had an opportunity for it. Until now.

"Me neither, really. Hard to imagine something that's shaped your life so much simply...not being there." That would be all too weird. As much as she had disliked it over the years, it was still her. At the mention of making bubbles and bathing in light, Syd laughed. "Abso-fucking-lutely."

Closing the cover on the piano keys, she turned and leaned against it. "Can you tell how everyone's doing? And it's funny that the two least-chill people are having probably the most chill time."

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xgene
2017-05-21 04:49 am UTC (link)

"I tried putting the pieces together once," that much David could admit. "Took the time, analyzed what I remembered being like as a kid, what Amy said about me... thought about what I dreamed of doing with my life, how I planned to live it." It hadn't gotten too far, because it'd made him so angry with himself, it'd made him feel so low, so worthless, that it just stopped abruptly. "If I was anything though, I used to have chill." Used to. He'd been so happy to go along with the flow, to be optimistic and cheerful. So yeah, swapping with Syd? No big deal as a normal person.

Looking around and finding everyone, David managed a smirk at the comment. "No kidding, right? Look at us, being all okay with this." A slight shoulder bump later and eyes focused on each individual. "Melanie's awake. Seems to be pretty calm, thanks to Oliver, who's still with her." And then, looking a little further off, "Rudy and Ptonomy are still together. Ptonomy's in a pretty sour mood, but Rudy seems... like Rudy." And the Loudermilks? That had him smiling. "Cary and Kerry might actually be on the same level as us. Kinda. They're... poking each other's faces."

Obviously studying one another, having a moment. "I wonder if they can merge back together like this, or if Kerry wouldn't know how because of the switch?" Brows furrowed, David looked back to Syd, reaching up to poke his own face just to match the other duo who seemed okay enough. "We should probably check in on everyone eventually." Eventually.

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