xavier_institute_ooc | (no subject)

[Oops, pity's back. Feliks feels himself getting a little less angry and a lot more sad.]

Yeah, most of us kind of can't either, and most of the ones who could would never want to! The teams are to help people who wanna do what the X-men do -- you know, protect people? -- without dying.

Mutants totally aren't "more violent". We're exactly like other people besides the powers, which means, you know, the best way to keep us from hurting people is to maybe not push us to the margins and make us feel like no one will protect us but ourselves and make it kinda impossible to live a normal life?

...You'd rather die, huh?

Well, I wouldn't. I'm gonna live, and be more than what people like that did to me!

[Sorry about that Stockholm Syndrome, though, man. Like... Genuinely, and he's not sure how to say it without getting mad condescending.]

That's what you say. Why should I believe you? And mutants are genetically different. They're more aggressive, and that's why they've caused so many problems in society. Problems we wouldn't have otherwise.

[When he doesn't know what to say, he goes back to the party line, as usual. It's safer, and familiar, as he's heard it so many times. At Feliks' question, he frowns, though he's a little more subdued than before. It's not like he really wants to die, but if it's for the good of humanity, then of course he will!]

Yeah...

[Although now he regrets angrily blurting it out like that to some mutant he doesn't know. They don't deserve to know anything about him. But he stands by what he said. And he's not ashamed.]

I don't want to be a monster!

[The particular form his mutation happens to take really doesn't help his mindset at all.]

The people who did things to me were mutants. And I can never forgive them! Even if I'm one of them. If I can get out of here, I'm going to go back home! That's where I belong. Not here.

Look. Like I said, you're being kind of a dick, but you're not a monster. If you were, you wouldn't care if it hurt people, right?

Plenty of humans have, I don't know, punched me, kicked me, thrown some bricks. [He says it like it's not even a big deal, because when he was Eren's age, it wasn't.] They used their hands and feet and knees to do it. But that doesn't mean they did it 'cause they were human, or that I think everyone with hands should be registered!

We don't support what mutants like that do, any more than most humans support their violent criminal, because, um, news flash, that's crazy. We're a school, ok? We're a safe haven. They're not doing us any favors by making people want to attack us more, and we don't want to see anybody get hurt, anyway.

And... you're safe here, too. I don't really care if you believe me or not, but it's true.

And if you're scared your powers will make you a monster? Like, I don't know what they are, but you're not going to find anywhere better than here to learn how to control them, and not let them control you.

Isn't that worth giving a try? Like, before saying you have to be fixed and you'd rather die? That sounds a lot like giving up to me.

Edited 2014-11-04 04:54 (UTC)

They're not making me a monster. I am one already.

[Eren doesn't get furious again, but he says this with great sincerity. He shakes his head stubbornly. At least he's actually listening to Feliks now, he's just incredibly hardheaded.]

I don't always care if I hurt people. SO I should be registered, and everyone like me should be, too.

What they did was worse than hitting me. Maybe I don't think all of you want to murder people. But that doesn't mean I don't support the MRA. I'm not old enough to vote, but if I could vote for it, I would! It should have been passed already by now. Kelly's just a traitor.

I'm not giving up! I'm doing what's right for everyone. It's hard, but I'll do it anyway, for humanity's sake!

Edited (I got temporarily confused about who is president!) 2014-11-04 05:13 (UTC)

'Cause of your power? What's it do?

I mean, I get that you want humans to be safe, you know? Like, my mom's a human! And my priest, and my weird little great-aunts, and the guy I had a thing for in middle school. And I wouldn't really even wanna hurt the guys who used to always beat me up! That's not what we're about, you know? We're about a future where neither side gets hurt like we've both been, because there don't have to be sides. Someone benefits from making us think there are, but it's not ordinary mutants, and it's not ordinary humans, either.

Maybe Senator Kelly's just a person who realized what he was doing was hurting people, and didn't want to keep doing it, you know? Maybe he didn't want to be a monster anymore.

Edited 2014-11-04 05:28 (UTC)

I told you! I'm a monster! I turn into a giant, horrible monster!

[There's really no point hiding it, as he's sure it's in his records somewhere. It was kind of hard to miss.]

I don't see how else we can be sure the humans will be safe. Mutants are just too dangerous. My family...

[He trails off, glancing away, and doesn't finish the sentence.]

I don't know how such a future can happen. We're too different! We can never trust each other. [He's not too sure about that Senator Kelly thing.] Or maybe he abandoned his friends because he wanted to get reelected.

[He hasn't exactly been a beloved figure among the Friends of Humanity lately.]

[Feliks bursts out laughitn, but it's not ill-intentioned, and it's pretty easy to see that.]

If he wanted easy support, why would he be on our side?

Anyway. Learn to control the monster, and it's not a monster anymore, right?

Give people a little more credit, god!

Because people got mad about the attack, and suddenly the Friends of Humanity weren't good enough for him anymore. I don't know what he's thinking.

[Eren doesn't seem to appreciate the laughter, well-intentioned or not, and he scowls.]

No, I can't. I don't want that to happen ever again! It'll always be a monster.

I do give people credit! When they deserve it!

You think maybe there was a reason people got mad about the attack?

[It isn't something he likes to talk about, or think about, if there's not a point to doing so. Talking about that day hurts. But because he feels bad for Eren, he decides to try.]

[So he sets down his ponies and he reaches into his bag for a tablet. He takes it out of sleep mode, and pulls up an image gallery -- saved news images, from the coverage of the incident.]

Take a look for a second.

[There are students, pale and terrified, curled up in a huddle at the farthest point from the door of one of the interior rooms. Teachers, wounded and nearly as frightened, standing their ground as the Sentinels descend, some with lingering students hidden behind them. People in tears at Jean Grey's funeral.]

[There's one in there of himself, clipped from the school's security footage -- first pounding on the inside of a locked door in panicked tears, with other students trying to pull him away. He can still hear his own voice rising above the sirens, when he looks at it: Where is he? Who saw him come in? What if he's still out there -- let me out, I have to go look for him!]

The way we're born doesn't make us monsters. Not you, either.

Come on, don't you totally think we can do better than this?

[The pictures seem to agitate Eren, and he pales, clearly growing upset, as he doesn't ever manage to hide his feelings well. He was only nine at the time of the attack, but he was aware of it. Of course they talked about it, at home. At the time, those pictures had reminded him of what had happened before...]

I already saw it! I saw the news. I saw what happened to the president, too! I didn't say they should hurt any kids or send robots, so that's got nothing to do with me. What about what happened to my town? Nobody talks about that?! I guess it wasn't a good enough photo op, huh?

[As far as he's concerned, the only people who cared about him were the Friends of Humanity. No one else did anything for him, but they took in a lot of the kids who were orphaned, gave them a home and a place to stay, looked after them. Now everyone acts like they're the bad guys!

Although as Eren thinks this, he's fully aware that the people who were taking care of him just tried to kill him. He probably would be dead if not for his healing factor. But he forgives them. He knows they were trying to do what was right. He'd hurt them. He was a monster.]

You're wrong! I am a monster! I could do something—even worse than that!

Well.

[Feliks shrugs, doing his best not to let it get to him, the anger or the pity.]

I think you could do better. What's the point of rolling over and dying, when there are people on both sides who need helping?

Being a mutant or a human doesn't make you a monster. It's what you do. And anybody can change that, right?

It's not rolling over and dying! If you're really dangerous, maybe you should do the right thing for everybody and not be selfish. I'd be dying for everyone's good.

[Like a martyr for the cause.]

No, I don't think everybody can change. Some people won't, and somecan't. Like I'd change being a mutant if I could, but I can't.

You can't change being a mutant, but why should you? You're not hurting anyone just by existing!

Look. I'm selfish as Hell sometimes, ok? I don't really pay attention to what people tell me, and I make my best friend carry my bags when we go shopping because he's taller, and I only share my food if I'm not super hungry anyway, and God help anyone who tries to change the channel when I'm watching football or chick flicks, because I'll fight them.

I know selfish, and wanting to live? It's not selfish!

What you can change is how you treat people. What you can change is that BS, self-defeating attitude!

You are what you are. Why not use it for good?

Yes, I am.

[Eren glances away, temporarily confused by the personal information.]

I share my food, and I don't care what's on TV.

[Not that he watched much TV where he lived. He doesn't see what the point of saying all that is.]

Maybe I don't always pay attention, and maybe I'm selfish too, but... I want to do what's best for the people I care about. I can't see my friends anymore, or my family. I can't go home.

And you're wrong! I never want to be that monster again! I don't even know what I'm doing when I'm like that! I can't even remember. I'd do anything to make it go away, anything....

Ok. So, you think your friends and your family would want you to feel like that? Like you suck just for existing, like your mutation is more important than everything you are, like your life is worth that little?

Because you don't, and it isn't! And anyone who told you otherwise is a piece of shit friend!

A lot of us had trouble controlling it at your age. But that's one thing this school is here for -- to teach us how to live and be safe and be in control, so we won't end up hurting people!

Edited (One typo, and changing icons because he ended up being hotter-blooded than anticipated) 2014-11-05 08:52 (UTC)

My family's dead, because of mutants! And my friends took me in, and you people took me away from them! They were always good to me. So why should I trust mutants, or listen to anything they say?

I did something bad, and I should have to pay for it, just like anyone else! I don't think I should get a free ride for being a mutant, and I don't think anyone else should either.

I don't want to control it, I just want to make it go away forever!

Yeah. Us people, us awful mutant monsters, not wanting to let a bunch of violent extremists brainwash and murder a kid for something he couldn't control!

I'm not brainwashed, you're brainwashed!

[He is the master of the eloquent comeback.]

It wasn't like that at all! I told you, they care about me. It's not like they wanted to do it! But it was the right thing to do, and it was what I wanted! I didn't want to come here, I hate it here!

[Feliks laughs a little at that, but it's short and humorless. No, Eren. Honey, no.]

[He'd have given up on this argument long ago, if he weren't also legendarily hardheaded. Pushing him basically just makes him more stubborn.]

Bitch, this has Stockholm Syndrome all over it, and you're gonna say I'm brainwashed?

Can you take half a second to think how totally messed up it is for anyone, ever, to say "oh they were so nice to me except for the part where they were trying to straight-up murder me, ~for humanity~"?

I'm sorry I told you that, because you're making it sound really bad!

[Who can say how Eren thinks his caretakers planning to murder him could be phrased more positively?]

You think mutations are a good thing, when really they're an illness that should be cured.

[That's the kind of argument that wins friends and influences people.]

It was just so I wouldn't hurt anyone else! I asked them to do it! You have to make sacrifices for the good of humanity!

So you're saying it was more like assisted suicide.

For an underage dependent.

Who you personally taught to hate and fear everything about mutants.

That sounds less sketchy.

No—that's not what I'm saying!

[Except that's totally what happened.]

They just care about me! Of course you couldn't understand, you're one of them. I'd rather be dead than hurt anyone, and I don't see what's wrong with that. They didn't teach me, the mutants taught me that!

Um, what part of that isn't exactly what you just told me?

Look. "The mutants" didn't teach you anything -- those mutants did. It doesn't make any more sense to say "the mutants" all do something than "the humans" -- there are good people and bad people, and the mutant thing doesn't actually have a ton to do with which is which?

It's great that you don't wanna hurt anybody. It totally is! But you can do that and still live!

I told you they were helping me! You don't have to make it sound—so bad. If they were really bad, they'd use me as a weapon or something. Or they'd hurt me instead of trying extra hard to make sure I wouldn't feel any pain.

Yeah, they did. They taught me that no matter what happens, humans are going to be attacked by those monsters! Not even for any reason. It doesn't matter how nice some of them are, there's going to be bad ones that will try to wipe out the other species because they think they're less important! There's going to be a war. And I'm not going to be one of the ones who hurts innocent, normal people.

[He shakes his head, stubborn as ever.]

No... I can't.

Sure, there's always gonna some mutants who have dumb reasons to hurt other people, the exact same as there are always gonna be some humans who are like that. You think humans haven't ever wiped out entire cultures of other humans? You think they haven't tried to do it to us? 'Cause one, please open any non-doctored history book ever, and two, you're basically telling me, right now, that the humans you love and trust are so set on killing any mutant who might be dangerous, even if they'd never want to be, that they'd do it to a kid who trusts them!

The thing that makes that kind of war? It's thinking the "other side" aren't really people, and no one should be doing it. That puts innocent people in danger, and it's exactly what you're doing now!

Don't just not hurt people. Protect them! Otherwise, you're just running away like some kind of a loser, right?

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God, I can't spell today...

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