and though the rules of the road have been lodged

[windchasing]

Who: Pietro Maximoff & Various
Where: Various locations
When: Throughout May
What: A catch-all post that I'll add top-level comments to throughout the month. If you want a thread we haven't already planned (or get tired of waiting for my slow ass), feel free to toss your own starter in here!
Warnings: None yet, but there may be some manipulation in the thread with Jiaying.
[Open for new starters]

Comments

Jiaying

[windchasing]

[ Pietro couldn't say how long he's been going to see Jiaying. Since the beginning, he thinks, near to when he'd first been transitioned into general classes and it had become painfully obvious that his English was far from the biggest obstacle to his success. He remembers sitting in the hallway outside her office at the school, staring at the painting on the wall for what felt like years while the adults tried to decide what to do with him.

Nowadays, he sees her at her professional office once a week - or at least that's what was written on his calendar when he recovered from his accident, and he doesn't question it. Mostly he still talks about school, how he's doing on his assignments and what strategies he's using to keep on task during class, but he talks about other things, too, as the thoughts bubble to the surface of his mind. ]

Do you believe in extraterrestrials? [ is what comes out of his mouth midway through their first session since the flood. Probably there's a reason for the question, and probably part of that reason is the flood, but explaining himself takes time Pietro isn't usually inclined to volunteer. ] Aliens, UFOs, that sort of thing.

[oncekind]

[Her small office in the form of half a store building is as welcoming as it gets. It's not overly decorated but just had enough of a personal touch to make her appear somewhat personable. She's always tried to come across as motherly and caring.

At the sudden question today, she gives him a curious look but ultimately doesn't appear to judge.]

Yes. But what brought this on?

[windchasing]

[ Pietro makes a thoughtful noise, considering. It's not a secret, exactly, but there are parts of this that are personal, and as usual those are the parts he's careful to excise from the story, although at least that's on instinct rather than out of any particular distrust. He trusts Jiaying more than most people; it's just that he doesn't trust most people at all. ]

Cassian and I found some debris, from the flood. [ Cassian and him and some other people who are not as important to him as Cassian, at least until they'd called Lorna. ] Probably just some rich asshole's private jet, but for a moment I thought--

[ You know. Aliens. He shrugs, like that's it, but he's not actually that good at pretending. ]

Do you imagine there's intelligent life, too? Not just tardigrades and bacteria.

[oncekind]

[She taps her fingers once, lightly, against the table and glances up at the camera facing her table before she smiles.] I can't speak about it but I'm living proof of such beings. [She chuckles a little and ducks her eyes almost demurely.] I assure you I'm not just telling you this as your therapist to make you feel better.

[windchasing]

You're--? [ If the flash of surprise across his features is any indication, that wasn't the answer he was expecting, even remotely. His eyes following her gaze, brows pinched, to the-- Oh. The camera. Contrary to all outward appearances, Pietro hasn't missed the fact that there are cameras all over this town; it's only that as far as he remembers, there always have been. Also, he doesn't care.

But Jiaying clearly does. And even Pietro understands, on this subject, that discretion is important. The humans so easily come to fear them. (Them, which now suddenly includes Jiaying.) He shouldn't ask anything here, but he has so many questions. ]

Haveyoualways-- [ he starts, forgetting to regulate his speech for what is probably not the first time in Jiaying's office. He bites his lip and tries again. ] When did you know?

[ All her life? Or like him, after years of thinking he was human? (Is this what he is? What "mutant" means? Not from this planet?) ]

[oncekind]

In my 30s. I'm not one of them but they made me. I'm different.

[She doesn't belong among the rest of these humans. She manages to suppress any physical manifestations of that hatred, keeping the session mostly professional. She tilts her head curiously.]

You are too, aren't you?

[windchasing]

[ He hesitates, because these are things you don't say out loud, but it feels familiar somehow too, to share what he is with someone like Jiaying. Someone he trusts.

Just not in words whoever is on the other side of those cameras can use against them. He nods. ]

Since I was twelve. When my mother-- [ Died. Everyone knows that. He doesn't like to talk about how. ] And then everything was different. Like- when you drag your finger along the edge of a record, and whatever song you're listening to stretches out for an eternity -- except it didn't for anyone else.

[ Just him. ]

[oncekind]

[she nods. She's seen so many different powers in her lifetime, helped so many through them. She can vaguely guess at what his powers might be.]

It's isolating when others don't understand.