UN: JUSTSOPHIE | TEXT

[sophielicious]

time for the bimonthly NYX report. introductions, i'm sophie cuckoo, your resident telepathic mutant barbie, hopefully it's nice to meet you. anyway, if you're new here, there's a gigantic building in charronway that i run for community strengthening purposes, called NYX. we have classes from swordfighting to demonic magic 101, and we serve homemade lunch and dinner made by our people.

so, as per usual, if there is a class you'd like to take or teach, please let me know and i'll see what i can do. second thing, we need more cooks, so if you want to help out, also just let me know.

place is also available for meetings, gatherings, parties if you're fun and know how to throw one, lectures, or whatever. i'm there during the afternoon, chrissy takes the morning shift, and always go through her first if you need me during that time.

as the end of it, as per usual, as a building exercise, let's do the usual. it goes over so well whenever i do it. tell me your problems, and i'll tell you how to fix them*.

*Neither NYX nor Sophie Cuckoo can be held liable or responsible if you listen to a random person on the internet and do it.

Comments

[pursuitofcappiness]

[ He comes by twenty minutes later, exactly as he said he would, and knocks on her office door. ]

[sophielicious]

(Telekinesis opens the door, the knob glowing in pink energy as she gestures to the couch and turns. Oh. It's a Scott Summers situation. Not her universe's cap, although equally handsome, which is what makes her laugh immediately.)

Hi, Cap. As so happens, you're not my universe's Cap, so everything I said was probably trippy, which is hilariously funny. Let's try again.

[pursuitofcappiness]

[ He doesn't know what she means 'not my universe's Cap.' So far, he's understood the concept of the multiverse, but not one so parallel that there are alternate versions of him. At least, not really. He'd briefly had a conversation with Loki about it, but it was Loki, so. But that means that no, he hasn't met anyone from 616 yet, and even if she couldn't read his mind about it, he looks just a little confused. ]

Sure. And so we're on the same page, what are we trying again? Introductions? I'm Steve.

[ He offers his hand to shake! ]

[sophielicious]

(Sophie herself has been in the same room as Steve Rogers. The ones who had interactions with him, though, had been her sisters, so this is the closest she has ever been to any version. Either way, dainty fingers with perfectly manicured nails grip on his hand for a shake.)

Sophie Cuckoo— Hold, hold, hold. I know which Cap you are. I knew your Spiderman.

[pursuitofcappiness]

[ Partway through the shake, he falters, looking confused again. He's just not bothering to hide it, this time. Not that it worked last time. ]

I think you're mistaken; I don't know a Spiderman.

[ This one's been officially out of the ice for just shy of three years, and his Spiderman probably only just got bit by a spider. They won't meet until a year from now.

Steve doesn't know that, but this, this is interesting. It seems that Sophie might know more about his world - what might become of his world, anyway - than he does. That, he wants to know. ]

[sophielicious]

Well, not yet. You will, though. I'm like, 99.9% sure? Anyway, this probably got even more confusing.

(Rewind. Rewind, probably? She's gonna have to pinch the bridge of her nose for a second, let him breathe as she takes a little, tiny look, sorry, she's trying not to, but she has notes to compare to make this much, much easier.)

[pursuitofcappiness]

It's okay.

[ He means it, truly. Waking up had been confusing, getting here had been confusing, and then he ran into Loki who's apparently taking care of many universes, but is also inexplicably stuck here.

Yeah, he's choosing to not think about that for the moment. ]

Why don't you just tell me more about NYX? I'm interested in helping out with the community so long as I've gotta be here.

[sophielicious]

Of course you are.

(Sophie, that does not help, but telling him more about NYX entails her telling him a bit of history and the context of it. It surely might be confusing, considering the Krakoan culture surrounding the building, but she's willing.)

Okay. So, well? NYX is from my own Earth, it was born because we wanted a safe place for my people and our allies. It sort of functions similarly to the way it did at home, the idea is for the community by the community, so we have homemade food because I think there's some magic in it, and our residents teach classes that they are apt to teach. We have Engineering and Design, Swordfighting, my fellow mutant friend teaches Demonic Magic which is actually way less satanic than it sounds, Arts, and I teach Ethics. Whatever people can contribute to, I'm all ears, and if someone needs a specific class or has a specific need, they are more than welcome to bring it to me, I know several people in this planet and I might be able to connect them with someone who might be of use.

(Did he notice the gigantic Captain America shield banner when he entered? Sir, you are an ally.)

[pursuitofcappiness]

[ He had, in fact, noticed the giant Captain America banner on the way in, but had assumed it was just a symbol the way that people use it or Tony's mask to represent the Avengers as a whole sometimes. He wouldn't have been surprised to see the Widow symbol or Hulk's fist, for instance.

But his world is a lot simpler, in comparison.

Though, if Sophie prods around in his brain, she'd find that he's a lot like the Cap from her world, in that he is an ally, that he'd think of them as equals as he does with anyone else.

And he's following along with everything, except, when she's done, he has a single follow-up question. ]

You said your mutant friend teaches Demonic Magic? What does that mean?

[ Well, now he's going to think all mutants know magic. ]

[sophielicious]

(That's where he stopped? Interesting, and she shrugs. How much about Illyana does she want to share? Just enough? Let her put this in a simple way.)

Illyana happens to have spent some time in a type of hell? So she knows magic, she's teaching some healing, some barriers, some defenses, it's actually pretty nice. She's much more qualified to talk about it? So you can contact her directly if you want, I'm not magic.

[pursuitofcappiness]

Oh.

[ That wasn't the answer he was expecting. Then he rewinds the conversation in his head and clarifies: ]

No, I mean, what's a mutant in this context?

[ He kind of just assumes this is like a modern thing he's currently unaware of. Sorry, Sophie. ]

[sophielicious]

I hate when you guys come without context.

(Not her first rodeo. Peter Parker, for one, had no idea what she meant. Okay.)

To sum up as fast as I possibly can, we're basically a population of people who have a specific gene in our DNA — it's called the X-Gene. It gives us abilities and powers, like, you know, some of us have wings, some of us are shark-shaped, some of us teleport, the list goes on forever. I'm a telepath, for instance.

[pursuitofcappiness]

You did mention that you were telepathic, I guess I kinda glossed over the mutant and barbie bits.

[ He just assumed she meant that she wasn't proportioned like a barbie, or something. Not that anyone is, really. ]

But, thanks for explaining. Do you - get to choose? Your abilities.

[sophielicious]

(Oh, no, it's the vibe, the waist-length bright, natural blonde hair, the blue eyes, the impeccable, highly detailed makeup, so forth. So she gestures to herself, as to say 'I know what I look like'.)

Oh, no. The gene develops differently in each person. So, you get what you get.

[pursuitofcappiness]

...Huh.

[ He thinks about that for a second. He supposes it's kind of the luck of the draw in the way that the serum is, only, he signed up for this. ]

Then I guess it's a good thing there's a place for people to hone their powers. I'd like to help.

[ And there, that's settled. ]

[sophielicious]

Well, technically, that part is the building over there — there's a school most of us mutants went to right next door, and there are facilities that can help with that sort of stuff, we all live there. No one has really asked me for that part? So I assume everyone is good on the power-control front. That said, I would never turn Steve Rogers down. What do you have to offer me, sir?

[pursuitofcappiness]

Well, I could teach martial arts, painting, drawing, or... French.

[ But his French is a little bit affected by him learning it during World War II. ]

[sophielicious]

Martial arts is the most useful. We keep getting these missions that fuck us up, so learning how to defend ourselves and having an outlet to deal with the aftermath physically is ideal. Besides, you already have a student.

(Wait for it.)

Me.

[pursuitofcappiness]

Oh, great. Have we done this before? I'd like to know if so, where we left off.

[ Look, he's rolling with the situation. ]

[sophielicious]

Nope, we're not... How can I put it? You met three of my sisters very briefly, and you and I have been in the same place a few times, but we haven't talked, ever.

(Is that a good enough explanation? Probably not.)

[pursuitofcappiness]

[ What ]

Oh. Is it... like a telepathic link?

[ Wait. ]

Sorry, is it rude to assume your sisters have the same powers?

[ Or are even mutants? It's genetic, right? ]

[sophielicious]

It could have been, but you nailed it, lucky you.

(Why doesn't his world have Emma Frost? Mysteries she hasn't managed to put a finger on.)

We're a telepathic hivemind of five clones. So, yes, we're identical. I did mention we come from the Weapon program, so, that's what it is.

[pursuitofcappiness]

Wait, you're. Clones?

[ He pauses. ]

And you're not super-soldiers.

[ Because she'd mentioned the Weapon program, but also that the hivemind was learning Martial Arts - they'd have mastered it by now if they split up and studied. If they were super soldiers, it wouldn't take too long. ]

cw genocide

[sophielicious]

We're clones, we are not super soldiers, nope. Not like you, anyway.

(She's 105lbs, who is she even managing to punch? She wants to learn, so she can actually not eat shit. Her thing is telepathy, her body a mortal vessel.)

Eh. Everyone hates mutants and tries to kill us off constantly, so the whole thing was 1000 of me, so we could link up and murder a bunch of us, five got released — not that we knew a thing, anyway? No memories. Their plan didn't pan out; five are left, not evil at all, members of the mutant community, etc. Any questions?

[pursuitofcappiness]

Uh.

[ Yeah, several. ]

-- Why is everyone trying to kill you?

[ He does not understand this mutant-human dynamic at all, Sophie. Not only does he not understand it from an outside point of view, but even if she explains, he really just won't understand the why. ]