adventurersclub | Wouldn't you like to play and party forever?

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week 2

Wouldn't you like to play and party forever?

[It's been one week since your arrival to this godforsaken place, and little seems to have changed since then. The doors and windows remain locked, your reluctant host mingles between guests, and nobody has killed each other...yet. It's only a matter of time before someone gives out, though.

What little solace, if any, is that you wake up with several coins on the nightstand next to your bed. Perhaps you should try putting them in that mask in the salon? You might receive some interesting gifts....]

[ SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY ]

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[Rapunzel isn't an insomniac or anything, really. Sometimes she just likes to take late-night strolls; they help clear her head, and seeing the night sky dotted with stars and the pale, bright moon always calms her nerves. With everything going on. There's a lot to think about these days, so this isn't the first night she's started wandering the halls of their prison.

It doesn't take long to notice the sound of music drifting out from the lobby, and it doesn't take long for her to notice which song it is. What's surprising to her is that when she enters the lobby, it's not Cass playing them; it's the girl. The one Rapunzel wanted to help rename.

Something is... she's not sure if she should say very wrong yet. But something is off. Carefully, she approaches.]

Hey... are you okay?

[ The reaction is... not immediate, but it takes a second for X-23 to kind of. Shift gears from the song to the person talking. Rapunzel, right. The one who knows Cassandra. ]

I-

[ She takes a second to - it's not a sniff, but it's somewhere in the neighborhood of being one, the intake of breath through her nose, and continues. Her tone is very... no amount of fucked-up upbringing can take away the "gruff teen who doesn't want to admit Feelings" voice. ]

Yeah, I'm fine.

[Good thing Rapunzel's best friend is "gruff adult who doesn't want to admit Feelings". She knows something's up, and she wants to help, but she also knows she has to go around it carefully. She's learned that she can't be too overbearing, that she has to offer her help in a way that it doesn't feel like she's forcing it.

Now that she knows x-23 isn't totally lost to whatever thrall the music is gripping her in, Rapunzel steps closer, until she's just an arm's length away from the girl.]

You know... you agreed the other day that we're friends. And I'm always here to listen to my friends, if you want to talk. [The way she was standing so still, like some kind of magic froze her in place... Rapunzel's felt that a few times, in her adventures with the black rocks.] I know how even just... seeing or hearing things can hurt.

[ X-23 kind of... purses her lips, not saying much of anything for a bit. Should she say anything? What should she say? Anything she could is just barely making sense to her. Externally, though, she has never been able to hold her body language together when it comes to negative emotions, and now isn't really any different, she just seems. Frustrated? ]

I don't... I don't know. It just feels...

[ She opens and closes her hands, clenches them into fists.

A frustrated noise, and the fists loosen. ]

I'm not good at this.

That's okay! [Softly, like trying to calm a spooked horse.] Not everyone is good with feelings. And there's nothing wrong with that.

[She reaches out, not to touch x-23, but merely to hold her hand out. If the girl wants to hold it, or grip it, or whatever. Just... to offer some sort of point of contact if she needs it.]

It's like... this big tight ball squeezing in your chest, right?

[ She doesn't take it, but... her hands clench and unclench a few times. ]

I... didn't even have anyone to impress. No one talked to me, except to give me orders.

[ Sometimes! You just wanna get straight into it, apparently! ]

Edited 2020-06-30 03:25 (UTC)

[On one hand, Rapunzel is happy that x-23 is willing to open up a bit. On the other hand: oh no.]

... Orders? [Oh, right. The profile...] There really wasn't anyone there who tried to help you? Or treat you like a person?

[ (: ]

I wasn't supposed to have any feelings. That's what they always said. So they made sure I never...

[ Her jaw clenches. ]

They made sure no one ever cared about me. That way I wouldn't care about anyone else.

[Oh... oh no. Are there actually tears in Rapunzel's eyes already? Yes, there absolutely are. She can't imagine it; even when she was being raised by Gothel, the woman at least pretended to love her. It's... it's more like Cass, isn't it? Cass, who Gothel yelled at for sweeping, Cass the toddler who was forced to do the cleaning.

It breaks her heart in two to hear about other people who have gone through this sort of thing.]

Were you... were you able to escape? Find people who were really able to help you?

[ X-23 isn't crying, but boy oh boy her eyes are starting to sting a little. ]

I got out. And I made sure they couldn't make another me. No records, no DNA... no one else who could survive the Weapon X process.

[ No word on the second question, though! ]

[Rapunzel is just. Going to reach out and put her hands on x-23's shoulders. She wants to hug her, so bad, but she doesn't want to spook the poor girl. So she'll give her a chance to pull back, give her a chance to see Rapunzel's actions, before she overwhelms her.]

You probably saved a lot of people doing that.

[Rapunzel doesn't like violence. The implications of what she did are... kind of uncomfortable. But she's not going to admonish her for doing something to escape. And it might've done some good in the end...]

I don't know what life was like for you after that... but the people here are good people. [.... Well. Mostly. That Bill guy is kinda weird.] We'll be here for you even after we get out of here, okay? I promise, I'll do whatever I can to help you find a way to be happy.

[ Laughs oh boy the implications of what she did are wild! But the things Rapunzel is saying... she listens, but. They seem to bother her. ]

That's not...

[ She thinks back to all the HYDRA bases she attacked. Finally tracking down the woman responsible for her suffering and...

"It doesn't have to be this way!"
Yes. It does.

When the smoke cleared she was free, but she was alone. ]

Why are you all so nice to me? You, Cassandra, Logan- All I've ever done is prove that I'm the weapon they made me into- the only good I've ever done is because I... misfired!

[Even with how frustrated x-23 looks as she talks. Rapunzel doesn't let go. Her hands on the girl's shoulders are gentle, but there's a pressure there too. She's not gunna let go and let x-23 flounder with these feelings.]

Because I know that's not true! I don't... I know I don't know you very well, but you haven't hurt anyone here yet, have you? You've made friends here! Me and Cass, the others... we know you're not a weapon.

[It's like Cass, after Zhan Tiri had taken the Sundrop and Moonstone and left them imprisoned. So broken and thinking so lowly of herself, and it makes Rapunzel's chest hurt so bad that she can't hold it back anymore; she tugs x-23 forward, pulling her into a tight hug.]

My mother taught me a phrase; plus est en vous. It means there's more in you, and that's true for everyone. No matter what someone wants you to be, or what someone used you for... you're more than just that.

Edited 2020-07-05 00:22 (UTC)

[ X-23 doesn't fight the hug, but... she doesn't seem to know what to do with it. No one ever listens when she tries to warn them away, do they? ]

But... you don't know me. None of you know me!

[ Her eyes squeeze tight. ]

I barely know me.

[It's okay. Rapunzel doesn't need her to hug back; as long as she can offer some sort of comfort to the girl, then that's all she cares about.]

We can learn about you together, then. We can help you figure out who you are, what sorts of things you like... we're just making sure you're not alone while you go through all of this.

[ There's a long pause as she tries to figure out what to say. There's just no arguing with any of them, is there?

Either they're right, or they'll figure out they were wrong eventually, she guesses. Even without knowing about her powers or her training or... anything, they still- ]

You really... care that much about me? ... Why?

Because I know what it's like to be used by a greedy person who only saw me for my abilities. When I was a baby, I was kidnapped, because I had the power to heal people.

[Rapunzel isn't exactly shy about her past, and it's not like she could hide it if she wanted to back home. She just... doesn't want it to come off as a "look at how terrible my life was" kind of thing, so it can be kind of tough to talk about sometimes. But for x-23, she'll do it.]

She raised me to fear the outside world and to be wary of other people, all so I'd be completely reliant on her. All so she could keep my magic to herself.

[ ... oh. Well, saying all of that definitely gets something out of X-23! The something is tears.

She still doesn't hug back, but her shoulders finally relax - slump a little, even, as she just kind of. Leans against Raps and cries for a bit. ]

[Oh. Oh, okay, Rapunzel wasn't expecting that. But it's okay, because she's still hugging x-23, and only shifts just a little so she can rub her back. That's it, just let it all out...]

And you know... she tried to keep me under her thumb for so long, and I was really scared when I first left the tower where she kept me locked away. But when I finally made it out into the real world... I found people who loved me, people I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. I found a better life, and I felt free.

[Eugene, Cass, her parents... all her friends, the people of Corona, her work as a princess... just that one step out of her tower led her to all that. It was terrifying, and she agonized for so long over it, but it was so good in the end.]

I know how scary those first steps outside can be, and I know how it feels to be lost out in the big world away from everything you knew... but eventually, someone will find you, and help you.

[ This girl has six claws and a lot of Big Feelings, this is just how it is with her, no one's ever taught her how to hold back.

Eventually she does actually talk again, though! ]

I'll... I'll try, at least. I don't know if I can do it, but... I'll try.

[Look, Rapunzel's best friend is basically a hedgehog too. She may have stumbled a bit with how she acknowledged a lot of Cass's feelings and it caused them a bit of strife, but she's learning how to deal with people like this. She gets it.]

That's all you can do. You don't have to be perfect at it... I mean, I was really awkward about making friends for a while. [Let her tell you about how she didn't understand what booing meant one day, or how often she stepped on Cass's toes in the early days of their friendship.] But it got better after a while. You just need to give it time.

[ X-23 nods against her. It's... nice, hugs are nice. Wild! She sniffs a little. ]

Okay. I have time.

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Wouldn't you like to play and party forever?

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it comes, as it always must with x-23, to cw emotional abuse

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