Closed

[modore]

Who: Kitty [passingthrough] and Satoru [modore]
Where: Training center
When: February 3
Rating: PG-13 at most
Summary: Kitty offered to teach Satoru to fight!
The Story:
Satoru realizes it's been a couple weeks since he and Kitty talked about her teaching him to fight, and he's not sure how time got away from him. It was probably just his misgivings about the whole thing. He's a kid--at least physically--and while he realizes that in Wonderland that's not really an excuse, it still feels weird to get any sort of combat training, even if it's the most basic of the basics. He draws manga. He's not built for fighting.

But once he gets over that, he finally sends Kitty a message to see when they can meet up and where to go. He's never done this before and isn't even aware of the facilities on the first floor, so he's pretty clueless.

Once that's all figured out, he heads over there at the agreed upon time. He has no idea what to expect, so when he arrives, he just looks around in equal parts curiosity and nervousness for a minute.

Comments

[passingthrough]

Kitty has plenty of misgivings of her own about this. She strongly believes even children should be able to protect themselves because of how ill-prepared she was when her life turned upside down and inside out at thirteen. Maybe if she'd embraced her powers or spent more time in self defense than dance classes she could have protected her parents.

She was the co-leader and teacher of the next generation of mutants back home—the ones who didn't want to see Apocalypse win and humanity and the earth destroyed in the process. She was teaching people not that much younger than herself how to survive and thrive under the adverse conditions of the world. But not long before she was pulled into Wonderland she also lost all of her students on a mission with overwhelming odds. She blames her husband and herself for those deaths and hasn't really had time to process them because there was another dire mission right after it and then...this. Whatever this is.

So, some of that confidence of hers has dulled through the loss, but the outbreak of zombies reminded her of the necessity of it. So, when she gets his message she doesn't put him off.

"Satoru?" She still hadn't actually seen him yet, but since he looks young, like he sounded and it's the right time she figures she has the right guy. "Over here." She doesn't have anything in particular set up, so it's just the training center as usual even if that's new to him. There is an assortment of items they can utilize, but first thing first.

"How old are you anyway?"

[modore]

Satoru looks over, recognizing her voice, and goes quickly to join her. He's still peering around at the training center when she asks that question and his gaze darts toward her. He has to decide quickly what to tell her, and so he's quiet for a little longer than he ought to be given how simple the question was.

"I'm eleven right now."

[passingthrough]

She didn't really expect the hesitation. Is it that he doesn't want to say for some reason, is he lying, or is it complicated for some reason? Or does she just make him nervous? "Are you sure about that?"

[modore]

Satoru frowns. Of course he's sure! But he realizes how strange his behavior is. He's really got to get over the drive to be secretive about it.

"I'm physically eleven."

[passingthrough]

Kid, what? "How old are you mentally?"

[modore]

"I'm actually twenty-nine."

He's a little nervous to admit that. He'll get used to it eventually, he's sure, but it's still a little nerve-wracking right now.

[passingthrough]

At this point after meeting someone she's pretty sure is Captain Hook, fighting colorful zombies and befriending some pale ones, and discussing cutie marks with a talking unicorn she's actually adapting to 29 in an 11-year-old body pretty well.

"So, you're older than me." Still hard to wrap her mind around though. "I gotta ask how." But if he doesn't want to say she won't push it.

[modore]

"I can time travel. Sort of. This isn't normally how it works, though. Usually, it's just by a couple minutes."

He wasn't expecting to get into this today, but he tells himself it's fine. It's probably better than outright lying about things.

[passingthrough]

"Does that make time travel that power you mentioned?" She's fascinated and wants to know more, but since he's not exactly volunteering information she'll try to reign it in some.

[modore]

He's starting to relax now, a little more willing to speak about it.

"Right. Calling it a power is kind of a stretch though. I can't control it." Not really, anyway.

[passingthrough]

"I couldn't control my power at first either. Have you tried to guide it?" She realizes he's not a mutant and that not even all mutants have powers that are safe enough to even learn to control properly, so it might not be that simple. After all, he's 29 in an 11-year-old body. That's not easy. Really sucks for dating.

[modore]

"Yeah. Just twice. That's how I ended up this far in the past." He raises an arm to demonstrate that he's referring to the body he's currently stuck in. "I just...wanted it badly enough, I guess."

[passingthrough]

"So, can you only time travel within your own lifetime then?" Her reigning needs work. Are you putting right what once went wrong?

[modore]

"It seems like it. Like I said, it's always been by just a few minutes before this."

[passingthrough]

"Sure." She shifts a little, thinking about how frustrating she'd be to be shunted back down to her ll-year-old self. "How long have you been stuck like this? I'm assuming you're stuck?" Or afraid to reverse it and end up 83.

[modore]

"Yeah, for now. I'm like this for a reason, though. I have some things that I have to fix. Then I guess I'll go back somehow."

He doesn't know how, though. If he succeeds, the future he's from might cease to exist. He might have to grow up all over again. But that would probably be worth it.

[passingthrough]

"Probably not something you can fix from Wonderland though I'm guessing?" But she can see the risks of jumping back for his time here.

[modore]

"No. So I guess being here is kind of like a break?"

A break that's trying to kill you.

[passingthrough]

For her the break is trying to kill her less than home was.

"Guess so. Well, it's good to know. I can treat you like a 29-year-old in an 11-year-old body. I'm not sure what that looks like yet, but I'll figure it out. Have you ever fought before? In this body or an older one?"

[modore]

"No. Never." The most athletic he gets is climbing over walls while avoiding the police. "I have no experience at all."

[passingthrough]

It's so strange to her to think that's even possible for someone. "What's home like? Do other people have powers too?"

[modore]

"I've never met anyone who does. As far as I know, it's just me who can do stuff like this."

He's never even really thought about looking for other people with powers. He's been doing this for so long it's just part of life (if not an annoying part).

[passingthrough]

"Really? Didn't it feel lonely? Not to mention pretty surprising if it's just you?" She never had to wonder where her powers were coming from. Mutants were a minority but they were a well known minority.

[modore]

"It doesn't happen often, most of the time, and I can't control it. It's never really been a big part of my life."

Then again, he can't ignore it when it does happen. And when it happens, it never seems to turn out well for him.

[passingthrough]

"You're a 29-year-old in an 11-year-old body and this isn't a big part of your life? I'd think it'd at least make your love life problematic."

[modore]

"This isn't normally how it works." He holds up a hand as though to indicate his body. "Normally, it's only a few minutes in the past, and it just replays until I fix whatever it is I'm supposed to fix."

[passingthrough]

"How long have you been stuck like this because of your interlude in the land of wonder?"

[modore]

"I got here at the beginning of August last year, so it's been..." He takes a second to count. "Six months."

He sighs quietly, making an irritated face. "I think I ended up this far back in the past because I got really desperate. I definitely wasn't expecting to go from 2006 to 1988."

[passingthrough]

She shakes her head. "I can't imagine being eleven again for a day let alone six months."

She tilts her head curiously. "Had a big change to make? What happens if you change something that changes everything else though? Do you remember the way it was or the way it became when you go back?"

[modore]

"I don't really know how it works with me going back. If I manage to change the things I want to change, then...I guess the future I'm from wouldn't exist..."

He's never actually given that part of things much thought. Now that she brings it up, he's starting to worry. But...

"No matter what happens, it'll be worth it to keep these people from dying."

[passingthrough]

She's starting to think he's just the most laid back person she's ever met in her life until he says the last part which puts things into a format she can understand—putting other lives over your own.

"I hope it works out and that it doesn't take too long until you can get back to it." If they ever get back to it. She doesn't exactly know what to believe about this place, but she doesn't accept stories of going home at face value. And even if she did, it's not exactly a good thing for her.

"You should do some stretching first. You can't in a real battle scenario, but we don't have to start that extreme."

[modore]

He nods. Stretching, at least, he remembers from school. He can do that much, so he gets down to it. Now that they've been talking, he's ready to get down to business.

[passingthrough]

And so everything faded into training montages!