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The 30,000 Days of Your Life; (Siryn)
Topic Started: May 14 2016, 08:04 AM (188 Views)
Corsair
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NPC: Baseline Human
Four Days into the Trip
Late Night


Hepzibah stretched her arms, as languid as the cat she resembled and murmured, "Where you go?"

Corsair, sliding out of the bed he shared with his unique lover, bent to kiss her tenderly, "My turn for watch."

The woman rolled over, snuggling into their bunk, both arms coming up to clutch her pillow, tightly, "Hmph," she hmphed, "You are captain. You should have a crew member take the watch."

Laughing, Corsair said "We have a crew of three, Kitten. If not me, then, you and that would defeat the purpose."

Already half asleep, Hepzibah murmured, "You have that crew of children. Let the X-Babies guard..." And, then she was back to sleep before she could finish her thought.

Shaking his head, Corsair smiled, and slipped out of the room.

There was a time, long ago, when he was Chris, that he was a simpler man. He lived a simple basic life, a husband, a father, a military man, who had an exciting job, and the cocky personality to go with it, but he was still very simple. Base and uncomplicated.

He was no longer uncomplicated. No. He was ridiculously complicated. His life was basically one complication after another. The most recent of those complications slept in a bunk off of the main crew quarters.

And, while, he should have gone to the boy, guided him, taught him how to be a man, helped him to become a good man and a brave one. He just found that beyond his capabilities. He hadn't been that great a father before the accident, before his capture, before his enslavement....

Chris had never had a chance to be a father, and Corsair felt he was probably too old to learn. So, the pirate had been spending only a small amount of time with his son, and begged off as often as possible, even to the point of taking this late night watch, so that he could prowl the decks of his beloved 'Jammer' and not have to think too deeply on the strangeness of this all.
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Siryn
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Sonokinesis/Flight/Vocal Hypnotism
So far in her career as an X-man, Siryn had followed others. Sometimes she had been on a big team, sometimes on a small team, but almost always she had had her seniors with her. Naturally, she trusted the choices of Scott and Jean when it came to the formation of this team and while no one had put her in charge, it still felt a little...lofty...being there. Hopefully, this would be done, and soon. A few more marks of experience for them all.

Knowing where they were going was...weird. Not that she expected to run into any very specific faces there, but all the same, there was a tugging at the back of her brain, or maybe it was really in her heart. Having been unable to sleep, the redhead had picked her way to the galley area for coffee, which was probably a bad idea. Mug in hand, Theresa restlessly paced, having checked on everyone. All seemed nice and quiet as everyone else seemed to do the right thing in terms of getting some sleep. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, her long red hair was in a relaxed braid, working type clothes in case there was anything she could find to do to tire her.

As she poked around the galley, her keen ears picked up footsteps; if she channeled her powers right, she could hear everything on the ship better than on land. Water had a weird trick to it, one that she didn't always like. Shuddering, she brushed away memories of her underwater fight with Namor and smiled at their current Captain.

"Evening?" It was probably the closest to what it was. "There's some extra coffee if you want some. I just made a pot," Terry smiled. "The only complaints I ever have about my coffee is it's too strong," she informed him cheerfully, as it was either a warning or incentive for most folk. Then there were just those who didn't like coffee. Tom had gotten her on it and she had learned from him. Warren had been a big coffee drinker too, so she had usually made him a pot or three throughout the day at his offices. Sometimes, she still made coffee just for him at school, though there was always a mug for anyone who came by her office at a good moment (there was usually plenty in bad moments especially too).

"I'd ask if we were on course and making good time and everything, but I'm not much of a sailor, so I'll leave that ter you and the crew," it was odd, though not in a bad way, to be working with Scott's father. He seemed a good man, even if he was a pirate, and she could see the glimpses of similarities between them in maybe the same way that people could see how she was like Sean, even if she would occasionally refute that on a bad day. There were a lot of parallels within her life to Scott's, probably one of the main reasons he had managed to turn her around so well, though he maybe just had a knack for that full stop.
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Corsair
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NPC: Baseline Human
If it had been Hepzibah, or maybe even Ch'Od who discovered that one of their young passengers was puttering around in the galley this late, they might have delighted in giving the girl a little scare. His crew was rough, and tumble, and they had long since forgotten their manners... if they had ever truly had any, but Corsair loved them, loved his ship, and had grown to love the life so different from the one he had expected. Sailing through a darkened sea, with only the light of strange glowing sea creatures to light the way? One could easily imagine that it was the depths of space, or another world.

Corsair, despite being as fond of violence and mayhem as the rest, was still enough of the man he had been before to rein the pirate in now and then. So, he greeted Terry with a broad smile, and laughed at her assessment of her coffee making skills. "My dear, I'm a pirate and before that I was a military man, if it was strong enough to stick a fork in, it would still not be too strong." He pour himself a mug and sampled it, black of course, sugar and cream were not always things that were readily available without a raid. He nodded and lifted the mug to her in salute, "Thank you. It's perfect." He took his usual seat around their small table, and propped a leg up on one of the vacant chairs, "We're on schedule, yes, just FYI. We might even be a bit ahead. Sanctuary isn't an easy place to find, which I assume was the point, but we'll be there soon."

Settling into his seat, he watched the girl for a moment, studying her. Then, leaning back he said, "You're not one of the kiddie squad, but you're pretty young to wear that X. I know that Scott and his playmates were younger when the took on the mantle, but I kind of got the impression that he wasn't too keen on having a young team. You must've impressed him, and if I know anything about him, he doesn't impress easy."
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Siryn
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Sonokinesis/Flight/Vocal Hypnotism
Terry's smile twisted a little and she scratched the back of her neck when he mentioned how hard Sanctuary was to find. "That's the truth, alright. Course, it's easy enough to get to if someone wants yer there. Once, a while ago, I was given a free pass for the whole thing..." it had been the last time she had seen Tom for a long, long time, and the last time she had seen him as a tree. Sometimes, that whole period just felt like a bad dream.

Sipping her coffee, she settled into a seat and inspected him over the rim of her mug, nodding as he picked up the fact that she was on the young side for where her spot was on the team. "I was younger still when I got bumped up the ranks. Eighteen. Scott only promoted one other person younger than me before that. But you could say I impressed him, I decapitated a sentinel in front of him and we stole a motorbike to track down some more..." Terry wasn't sure how much Corsair followed the mainland news, but what had happened on Winter Island and in New York City with the Purifiers and sentinels had been major news. "I guess I impressed him, as he gave me a hug. Think I was sworn to secrecy on that one, actually," she laughed, not minding if Chris knew and knowing Scott probably wouldn't mind either.

"I was kind of a mess when I went to the school though, the kind of mess that has a SHIELD tracker and null cuff with attached criminal record. At the time I was sixteen and really lucky they brokered a deal on sending me to the school, otherwise I was going ter get charged for some pretty serious shite as an adult," pausing to drink some more coffee, she chewed her lip. "Scott was kind've...busy...when I first arrived, but later, well, he understood things about why I was so angry. It's one of the things a lot of students don't get about him; he seems all formal and straight ter look at, but he understands what anger is, what it is ter be so...frustrated. Some people don't get that, maybe cause they don't know what it's like, not really. He has a lot to be angry about, furious, but...he's not. I was all anger for a long time, but eventually, I just saw he wasn't and it...sorta clicked into place."

Another deep swig of coffee saw Theresa drain her mug as her glowing report painted her cheeks a little red. Many of the older X-men were like brothers and sisters to her now, and that viewpoint wouldn't change. Scott and Warren especially had helped shape her life and without them, she'd probably have gotten nowhere fast except maybe the Raft. She owed them, and it was no burden to be in their debt.
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Corsair
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NPC: Baseline Human
Corsair smiled at the idea of this young woman in front of him decapitating a sentinel. He had never seen one in person, but he knew what they were and how hard they were to kill. He probably would have promoted the girl too. His smile faded at her mention of Scott's anger though, and he lowered his head.

"I see that anger in Scott," he admitted, "and I know it's my fault in so many ways, that anger... I wasn't a good father, even before this whole thing. I was military, and I was gone for long periods of time. I left him with his mother and when I came back I was so afraid he'd be angry with me that I indulged him badly. I thought if I was more a friend than a father, he wouldn't need me to grow up or something." He shook his head, sadly, "I barely even knew Alex before this all... He was in kindergarten... barely even a person yet. Now, they're both men, and better men than I ever was, and I'm so proud of them but... I'm ashamed of myself."

The pirate sipped his coffee and then said, "I don't suppose Scott ever told you why I didn't come for him? He holds so much close to his vest, but then other things, he tells because they can be a learning situation. Always a teacher and I have no idea where I got that from... well... no, that was his mother. She was a nurturer. She was beautiful when I married her, but she thrived when she became a mother. So perfect. So right in her element."

Looking at Terry thoughtfully, Corsair said, "Scott once told me that when he became a mutant he stopped trying to find Alex because he assumed that Alex wouldn't want to be part of the life that he was now going to live... I guess I felt the same way with them both. I'm a pirate, because what happened to me made me a criminal, an enforcer for an even bigger criminal, my morality and honor ripped from me and replaced with violence, drugs and degradation. Even if I had known the boys were alive, I would have stayed away. They deserved better... they still do, though God knows why they refuse to give up on me."

Contemplating what the girl had said, Corsair said, "He saw potential in you, and that seems to be his strong suit. Alex, he has hope and faith, almost blindly believing in others, that they can be better, but Scott, he finds what no one else can see and brings it out of people. Alex believes they can be better, Scott shows them how to be. I wish I could claim the responsibility for raising such phenomenal men, but it wasn't me. Sons... they're supposed to be reflections of their father, but they've both surpassed me."

He glanced towards the door, as if he could see down the hall to where his time traveling son slept and he said, "That boy... he grew up to be a man without me."
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Siryn
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Sonokinesis/Flight/Vocal Hypnotism
Listening to him carefully, Terry watched the man from across the table, then drew her chair in a little and propped her pale elbows on the surface. "I was only a few days old when my mother died. It was her first day out after having me...Only she died. An IRA bomb in a garbage can on the street. I can't even say I remember her as I never knew her, never heard her speak t'me, felt how she held me, smelt her perfume. She was just gone. It got...complicated there. My cousin was jealous of what she had with my father and, well, my father saw reason t'leave my mother before he even knew about me. So when she died, my cousin Tom took me and called me his own and I grew up callin' him Dad."

Rising up she went for the coffee pot and brought it back to the table, filling her own mug up again and leaving it there for Chris to take more. Taking a sip, she carried on. "Life with Tom...Sometimes I feel guilty fer saying it wasn't all bad, but it wasn't. It isn't even a lie ter say he loved me. As far as I was concerned, he was my world and all I knew, so I put up with him being away and going ter boarding school. But when my powers came out - the same damn powers as my real father's - well, that's when I found out that all those girls I was punching for sayin bad things about my Dad weren't the ones running their mouths. My cousin is Black Tom Cassidy. For most of me life, he tried. But after a while he stopped trying and started to pull me down the same path."

Smiling slightly, she shook her head. "Then when I was fifteen, some weird shite happened and he turned into a tree. Wish I was makin it up. But it seemed to frighten him enough to finally tell me the truth. Or at least his truth. Course I was angry but I was still only fifteen and a criminal already, so I stuck put. And I started drinkin and doin even more things I shouldn't, until the law caught up with us and we got busted on a job. That's when Tom fessed ter everything and I got off on a mercy plea and sent to the school. I had problems when they ditched me there, but even more so, my real father was there...Getting to know Sean was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but...I don't hate him. Not all the time anyway. It ain't been perfect and we've both rubbed each other the wrong way something ragged, but I don't hate him. Christ, I don't even hate Tom. Fer all his sins, he raised me and he did a shite job sometimes but he knows he did. And Sean, my Dad, he knows he weren't there and there's no pain that I could ever wish on him that would be greater than the pain that he lives in, knowin he left me before he knew I was."

Feeling solemn, Terry drank some more coffee and sat quietly for a moment, inspecting a small scar on the back of her hand. After a moment of contemplation to let it all sink in, she settled her sea green eyes on Chris and smiled again, warmly. "Scott saw more than potential in me, he saw himself. Oh for certain, he see's potential in every one of his students, but a few o' us, he sees what he once was and he wants ter change it so we can be better. Without knowing what it was that was burning inside me, Scott wouldn't have been able to turn me around. He uses what was bad to help, ter do good. You should be proud, very proud. I know he's proud of you. The longer someone has gone, the harder it is ter come back. The older I got the more Sean seemed to feel I didn't need him, at least that was his excuse not to mess things up and intrude on me, but it ain't true. I'll always need me Dad. Even one called Tom now and then...Scott is a good man, but even he'd appreciate his Dad still. Always."
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Corsair
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NPC: Baseline Human
Corsair listened to her story, and smirked to himself. Then, he got up and went to the cupboard, producing a small bottle. "Forgive the expression, but I'm going to Irish this coffee up a little." He poured a generous shot into his mug and then tossed her the bottle. "Help yourself." Then, he sat down and frowned, "Wait, you're old enough to drink, right? Eh. I doubt it matters. I mean, we're technically in international waters. But, even if we weren't, yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me, right?"

He leaned forward and said, "You know... I think I might have known your Black Tom. He pals around with a big guy now and then, right? Cain?" He shrugged, "The criminal world is probably as small as the hero community, and Madripoor is... a meeting place of sorts. There was a time when I... belonged there. When I believed that what I had become was worth the stink of the low city, and I had mad delusions of sometime being a wealthy man in the high. I was welcomed there, even after I was freed from D'Ken's... employ, and I knew every seedy bar, and underground casino in the port. That's where I met your Tom and his pal. Card game, high stakes." Corsair smirked, "Too rich for my blood, but I like to watch the fireworks sometimes, especially back then when I was drunk or drugged more than wasn't."

He sipped his drink and then said, "Fight broke out. I don't remember why. Someone lost. Someone cheated. Who knows? Bad men acting badly, for all I know, and one thing lead to another, I ended up with this crazy Irishman who was using mutant powers to blast everyone who looked at him funny. There's a lot of funny looks in Madripoor, and a lot of wood to blast them with."

With a sigh, Corsair looked over at the girl and said, "When it was all over, not a lot of people were left standing. His big buddy had taken out half the building, but we ended up with a few others making ourselves scarce and we got to talking. He showed me a picture of you... I assume it was you, I mean... his little girl, he called you. Red haired, freckled. No idea you'd ever end up with my boys, no clue it was ever anything more than a passing moment, but I remember it because of how he looked when he showed me the picture. How he went from this scary crazy mutant criminal to... to just a father... whether or not it was by blood."

Corsair glanced back at the door, "You know, I saw that same look on Scott's face when he talked about you kids, about the school... the face of a man who has watched someone he nurtured become something more than himself. I feel that about him, about Alex... I feel so damn proud of them, but I can't take any of the credit. I want to meet this Professor of yours sometime, and thank him for being the father I couldn't."

Terry explained to him how Scott used his pain to help her over hers and Corsair nodded, "I've seen him in some dire straits, but only after his... death... have I ever seen him almost give up. I never thought anything could break him... reminded me of myself after Kathy's death. I was so lost then... Scott was so lost... Maybe his time on the ship helped. I don't know. It must've because he sent for me for this when he could easily have flown you all out there. He wanted his teen version to be on this boat with me. I wish I could figure out how to be what he wants me to be."
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