2013.08.23 - The Memory of Flowers

The Majestic Theatre really is coming along, whether it's because of the girls' elbow grease, Amanda's magic, or for the cash that never seems to stay in Kurt's pocket? He's added his own to the mix, just to show that he wants a stake in the place, and will continue to contribute.
It's just time. Time he's not seeming to get back at any point.
So, what time he does have, Kurt spends in the rafters over the stage at times, and others, over the still not yet replaced seats. He's got a nice dark corner, and in hand, a 'box' of pork fried rice. His tail is wrapped around a beam, and he's got the other food from Chinese take-out set upon the timber beside him.
Outside, the rain has started; thunderstorms coming through in the form of cells. The claps of thunder gives an ambiance to the entire tableau; shadow.. blue fuzzy demon-looking guy.
Eating Chinese.
A creepy old theatre and a thunderstorm. What are two blue demon-inclined souls to do? Eat Chinese food, apparently. At least for one. As for the other...
-Foomp!- Snag! -Foomp!-
She's busy stealing fortune cookies.
Reappearing a few feet away, hanging upside down from the ceiling, TJ snaps the cookie open and pops half of the shell into her maw, tugging the slip of paper out as she goes then saying around a partial mouthful "Let your fantasies unwind... While upside down. Huh. That's insightful."
The other half of the cookie gets wedged into her mouth a second before those glowy yellow eyes flicker, just a little, and she lets go to drop without a sound back to ground level with one hand lightly held to her temple.
"Man... How much MSG did they cram into this thing?"
Kurt looks up from his rice, more than a few pieces falling to the ground below from off his spoon, and he makes a 'distressed' noise when a piece of cut pork makes a leap for freedom as well, followed by an 'Awww!'. That, of course, is followed by a rather theatric,
"Look out below!" Three fingers splay soon after in a gesture of 'WHOOOSH!' as if it was a bomb that had been dropped from on high.
The sound of 'foomp' gains Kurt's attention, and he laughs at the rapid-fire teleporting that TJ seems to be working on. And what better way than to dangle fortune cookies! Wasn't that how a panda got his training in some movie?
"What? Are they using lyrics now? That's from the Phantom of the Opera!" Kurt waves a hand, his smile creeping up, "Except he never hung upside down."
Beat.
"Und no letting your fantasies unwind. Even upside down."
In the next second, Kurt is on the ground with an easy set of bamf!, now beside her. "Probably a lot. Und enough salt to gag a maggot."
TJ's eyes slit back open, pushing the mushy cookie remains down her throat before saying anything else. "Have you ever felt sick after bamfing..? Dizzy, lightheaded, pounding temples?" Anything at all? Come on, don't let it be unique to her...
"And they're my fantasies, I can let them unwind if I want. The cookie told me to. It is written."
To that she holds up the tiny slip of paper in her other hand. "See? Even if they are lyrics, which I swear you're the only person in a square mile that would have caught that as being lyrics."
There's an agitated twitch of the girl's tail, gently pinching her eyes shut once more. "Think it's Tylenol time. And I think you need a safety net for your food, seriously. I'm not cleaning that up."
Kurt takes a theatric, dramatic step forward to put a hand upon TJ's shoulder, the gesture also filled with the same gravitas. (Academy, are you watching?) "I'm afraid, Herzchen, that I am your father. I know, it's difficult to believe, but yes." He pauses as if to let the news sink in before he continues, brows rising in inquiry, "Little queasy? Lightheaded? Tired?"
Kurt turns away, his tail flicking as a part of his 'departure'. "Nope."
It's not long, however, before he twists around and nods, "Actually, yes. It's a side-effect of bamfing. You'll build up a resistance to it. In fact, it's one way that I take people out. I'll bamf the heck out of them until they pass out."
BAMF!
Kurt perches on the back of a chair near where his bit of pork fell, but it's obviously lost in the dust of the ages. Even to those glowing golden eyes. "Of course they're lyrics. Und if you do, I swear, I will haunt you as the Phantom." He pauses before adding, "Und start calling you Christine."
No.
"Okay. But I draw the line at you dating someone named 'Raoul'."
"That could still be up for debate," TJ grumbles when Kurt mentions being her father. "Though I am glad that my real dad didn't have a chance to share notes with you or I'd be dealing with headaches much more frequently."
Of course, it's all followed up with a warm, fuzzy hug. One which lingers, as though she's hanging on for balance. When it's confirmed she says "That's good to know" in that same 'I'm feeling miserable tone.' A moment later she blinks and leans back just enough to meet the other, perfectly identical, gaze. "I don't know why I asked that. There was a time when I used that move against you--a different version of you, to wear you out. Guess I'm more used to piggyback bamfs with you than I am with my own."
When the momentary smoke clears she stands upright, still gently rubbing the side of her head. "I'm not a possessed Plymouth Fury, thanks."
Pause. Raoul? Once more eye contact is made, looking particularly blank from her end. "Is it the braids?"
Kurt is more than happy to share a hug, share a little bit of stability there. Bamfing isn't easy! "It takes time,"
BAMF!
Kurt reappears beside her, ready to offer that fuzzy hug once again as support. "Und patience. Soon enough, it will be an easy, natural reaction. It takes part, at first, in the fight or flight. It becomes necessary to fight the urge after awhile. To stay put und, well, fight." A slow smile begins to move across his face, those golden eyes taking on something of an impish expression. "Unless it really pisses off the other person. Then bamf away."
Now, with him being in basic proximity, he reaches out for the hug, ready to push some braids back. "Ja. Raoul. Christine's paramour that the Phantom did not approve of."
"Now, and with a guiding arm, he's ready to bamf her to the rafters in which to perch once again. "I can imagine the fun the two of you used to have in the piggyback rides as a child. I know I would have a blast. Into the water. A snowbank. Onto a hill to roll down.."
Back to the rafters they go, this time without TJ being at the helm. Which is probably for the best.
"Things were a lot more simple back then. As I got older those memories became fewer and further away. He pushed me pretty hard, though this teleporting business never came up or he would have pushed me half to death and back on that point, too."
Again eye contact is made. For perhaps the first time since arriving here, TJ looks ..lost. "Part of me wonders if this was ever supposed to happen. Back with the Exiles we learned that the further away from the 'core' timeline someone went the more their other versions would change. It's almost like I've drifted so far away from where I had come from that I'm changing into something more separate from my baseline identity. And--now I'm here without the team or the Tallus or any sort of guidance, like I was thrown here to plug a gap, or something. Like I'm supposed to be the TJ of this timeline. Which makes no sense to me, I'm not supposed to exist in this timeline."
Another pause follows, which results in a soft, pained "Ow." Over-thinking matters with a headache, it's a thing.
It doesn't stop her from carefully selecting a fried wonton to nibble upon, however.
"It's stupid crazy, but even with the team things often made more sense than here. At least we had some sort of explanation to run with."
Kurt curls his tail around her in order to give her a little more anchor, even if her own little micro-suckers work quite well. Listening quietly to the story as it's told him, her fears and doubts, he exhales softly and gives her a squeeze. "I apologize for him, Herzchen. While I cannot say that I wouldn't do the same given the circumstances, I would certainly not wish it that the happy, carefree memories were so distant. They are supposed to be the lights in the darkness, not distant pricks of glowy.. stuff." He knows it's not necessary, but the look in those eyes?
It's breaking his heart.
Little girl lost.
He exhales softly, and shifts a little closer to add more contact. "The farther away from your core, the more different I would be, then?" Kurt's trying to understand, "Or is is that you change?" He isn't quite sure how all this has worked in the past, so he's not entirely certain how this differs. Other than the lack of team. Lack of.. whatever it is.
"It is true," K,urt offers softly if not a little sadly. "I'm not quite as lucky as your father. I'm pretty certain I'm not destined for fatherhood." A smile is quirked and he nods towards the door, "After all this, Amanda is dead set against children. Ever." He puts up a finger, and moves it to 'boop' her nose. "She's more than happy to adopt, however."
Shaking his head, however, the smile turns rueful. A little sad. "Then it is up to us to determine what it is that needs be done in order to return you home. Something that is uniquely 'you'? Perhaps a clue in one of your other jumps? You'd landed in Hell.. und if it weren't for the fact that I'd just learned that pit-stop, you'd still be there."
"The farther away the more that everything could change," TJ replies. "Though I've never known these changes to happen to anyone that's time-jumping. Only if they bump into another copy of themselves. Let me try to explain this mess."
Before she can get into the details there's a finger lightly poking her nose. She may be well into her twenties by now but it still makes her smile. "I'm not sure what the paperwork would be like for displaced kids."
She's getting further distracted. Tiny fangs soon catch the edge of a deep indigo lip. "I'm not..sure..that I want to go back anymore..." she says just above a thoughtful whisper. "I may well have existed there in order to exist here. I guess I've managed to repair the damage back where I had come from but there's so much left to be done everywhere else. And here... Here almost feels more like home than anywhere else had."
The thought is quickly pushed aside, partly with a physical element as she gives his shoudler a light push. "Now stop distracting me. It's time for multiverse physics."
TJ's tail comes around, forming a near perfect circle in the air. "Let's say this is where you start from," she explains while pointing to the spaded tip. "A few degrees in either direction and things would be pretty normal. Maybe over on this side Fox News actually did something useful, and maybe over here Justin Beiber got the ego kicked out of him in elementary school so he went on to work at a burger joint. Minor stuff."
"Now, let's go out here," she continues while going to the exact opposite end of the ring. "Out here you might be more demon than anything else. Maybe you're red, you've got horns, two tails, four eyes. Maybe you're the very scourge of reality. Maybe you eat toads for sustenance. It would barely be recognized as being you anymore. Now imagine an infinite number of points between there and here. Unlimited possibilities."
Kurt allows for the physics lesson, and when her tail forms that circle, his attention moves around to it. He listens carefully, nodding in parts. Though, he simply can't help himself. "I don't think there is any place in the multiverse where Justin Bieber was beaten so soundly as to lose his ego. If that was true, somehow, somewhere, let someone sign me up for it."
Though, now, yellow eyes follow her hand out to the opposite side. One hand rises to his hip, and those fangs emerge as he smile, his tones sounding a tease. "I just don't share my toads." He does understand, however, and he points at a spot within her tail, "Burgers. Definitely burgers."
With that done, however, Kurt looks back at her, the compassion obvious on his face. "Your parents.. Kurt und Wanda.. I'm uncertain they'd agree with you. The loss of a child, regardless of how? It would devastate even me. Family, Herzchen, is one of the most important things."
But?
"I have to admit that you are very much like a prayer answered that I never made. If you ever left, I would be like that parent mourning. Part of me hopes upon hope that you remain, und there is the other part that knows that the other me is feeling the loss." A soft chuckle sounds, and he murmurs, "Jealous over what I have. May I have some of that aspirin?"
Kurt lets out a sigh, and looks out over the Majestic. "Perhaps it is because of your travels that you were picked to help with the waypoint? You have had different experiences than I, than we, und there may be something that you know or are familiar with that we simply don't."
This time TJ responds with a toothy grin. "You're right, that's not so minor. Let's move that closer to three o'clock. But, case in point. Some of these timelines turn out better than the ones we had come from. Out here I'm not even stepping on my own tail."
"Burgers. Yes. And yet you ordered Chinese again."
Here, again, her mood visibly fades to grey. "I'm not sure that I could go home," she starts to explain while her tail uncoils and finds its happy place somewhere behind her again. "At first we were told that we could all go home after we had jumped through a few hoops. I guess it worked for some of the original team. For some of us things have changed too much for us to be able to go back. What the hell, things are destined to happen, you know?"
There's a thin smirk as she slings the small bottle of pills his way. She's started keeping one in her pocket just for moments like this one. Well..moments when she gives herself teleport sickness.
"Everything for a reason, Dad. I've cleaned up a lot of messes on my way out here. I know next to nothing about actual magic, yet I got swept up with you two. By this logic I've gotta be here for some other reason."
Kurt catches the aspirin, and he laughs. "Ja, I did. But burgers are messier than Chinese. I'd end up dripping the catsup, or the wadded up wrap down onto the ground. Und the fries? So much worse a loss if one of those was dropped."
The slowness and deliberateness of her tail's uncoil says lots to Kurt. It's remarkable exactly how much expression is in the tail. Moreso than cats! He turns back around, and his head cants, the compassion so very evident upon his face. Not pity. Never pity. Everything is for a reason. Their job is to find it.
"When we'd gone away, Herzchen.. you'd found a flower. Eidelweiss, I'd called it.. und when it was lost, it was as if you'd lost something so near to your heart. Can you find it to tell me what happened?"
TJ dramatically sighs and hangs her shoulders, "Can't take you anywhere."
That passing moment of faux drama quickly fades away when the word 'flower' is brought up. At first she remains crouched and perfectly still there upon the rafter beam, her expression a peculiar mix of guilt, loss, and surprise.
When her shoulders next hang there's nothing playful about the motion. "I suppose that requires a little explanation. Before..getting yanked out of my reality, well..I guess that part isn't quite so relevant. When we were first pulled together, our little crew of Exiles, one of them was a man named John Proudstar. Thunderbird. We came to call him T-Bird. After being around him for a while I came to see something in him that reminded me of someone else that had been very important to me that I had to leave behind. John was a big guy, could hold his own in any fight, but he had a soft spot for flowers. Didn't matter what kind they were, what color or what they smelled like. It was one of the first things we had bonded over."
"For a time we had been involved with one another. Then..something terrible happened. We didn't have any choice when we would get pulled from one timeline to another. We had to leave him behind while he was left in a coma. It's the last time I ever saw him. I can only hope that he recovered and reunited with another version of me, or found someone else to be happy with."
Young love lost.
There's nothing to say for it, really. How could there be? But, there's something in what she's said, and the elf who would be dad has to ask, and his voice is low in the question. "Something in him that reminded you of someone else?" Though, he does sigh, and he gives her a tail-squeeze.
"Did you speak to him while he was in his coma, Herzchen? Because I have discovered, und experienced, the fact that there is something there that allows the patient to feel a loved one's presence. That there is no waste to a bedside vigil." Though, to leave him... that brings the sympathy back around.
"You did leave him in good hands, ja? Perhaps he is on a quest to find you? Or.. has taken the vows of celibacy because he doesn't have you." His tones remain soft and supportive, even when he sneaks this in,
"If he finds you here, I will gain from him his vows.."
"His brother, James," TJ softly replies. "The first love that I was forced to leave behind."
Pinching her eyes shut she briefly shakes her head, "We never had a chance. None of us did. He fixed that timeline, because of him we could all move on. Because of what he sacrificed he was the one we had to leave behind. He was left in good hands but for the Timebroker it's all just world-saving business. Someone came in to replace him within minutes. Then we were back on the move."
Just then the discussion seems to be running a little too deep for her liking, releasing a long breath while she lets the torrent of emotions settle once more. "I just want him to be happy," she concludes with a thin smile and another glance his way. "Which is what he would have wanted for me, I think. Maybe I don't have him, either of them, here, but I also don't have to contend with global catastrophe. I'm happy here, Dad. Things can be different without being bad."
Kurt actually twists around to give the girl he now calls his 'daughter' a hug. A big, blue, fuzzy hug. "You've done so much good, Herzchen. Und sadly, sometimes it means to the detriment of your happiness at the time. But, know this. There is always a reason for everything. It may not make itself plain immediately, or even for years. But in hindsight, you may recognize it."
A smile comes to his face again, and he quirks his head. "Now for my turn. I'm glad you're happy here, und I am sorry I've been such an absent parent.. after a fashion. I've been helping a dear friend of mine, und.. well.. it hasn't been easy." Kurt considers, and he offers a hand, "I promise that I will do better for you, okay?"
TJ rolls her eyes in silence, though she does so with a slight grin. "I was just giving you that same speech two minutes ago, copycat."
The apology that comes shortly after is met with a broad finger to his sternum, prodding him exactly once. "Thanks for telling me, but I'm a big girl. I've saved the world almost as many times as you've dropped part of your lunch from these rafters. I'm sure I'll survive. But, if you ever knowingly set out to a tropical paradise and you don't invite me I will introduce a colony of fireants to your bedsheets."
Now her smile is a lot more genuine. "Gonna hold you to that promise."
"You were? Two minutes ago?" Kurt moves to check his non-existant watch. "Shows you how attentive I am.." Uh huh.. and a sly smile crosses his face. "Who said parents never listen to their children?"
Kurt chuckles easily and his brows rise, "Und I haven't? Though, I did drop a lot of rice." Considering, however, his shoulders slouch a little. "Tropical paradise? I don't think I know of one.. but if I find one, I'll--"
"-- be sure my sheets are changed."
Another laugh escapes the elf, and he reaches over and behind her to a bag to grab a crinkly-wrapped fortune cookie. Cracking it open, the pieces of almond-flavoured cookie fall down to the floor below, leaving behind the piece of paper. Opening it up, he clears his throat dramatically and reads as if he's quoting Shakespeare. "Your smile brings happiness to everyone you meet- while hanging upside down." The piece of paper is stared at for a long moment before he curls it into the size of a small spitball and lets it drop. "Und here I was looking for something deep."
'Be sure my sheets are changed.'
In that one minute TJ tilts her head back, holds her forearm against her forehead in absolute 'woe is me' fashion, gives a heart-felt "Ugh!" and allows herself to simply fall backward off of that rafter.
Only to end up hanging upside down beneath it, hand still held to her forehead.
"You're killin' me here..."
As soon as she hears the cookie breaking she holds out a hand, catching one of the fallen pieces of shell. Which she then munches upon. "It does make it a lot easier to get a reaction out of others," she admits while staring out across an inverted room.
Then the wadded up fortune falls after the rest of the cookie. "What was this about not having dropped any food from the rafters? I need to rig a garbage chute to these beams, or something. Then get you a Dyson for Christmas."
A laugh sounds from the elf, and he wraps his tail around the beam, and slides around, matching her own posture and position. They're right-side up! The rest of the world (except for Australia) is upside down. "It puts them off balance, actually. It takes the battle to them und makes them defend." It's something that Kurt's gotten down to almost a science. That, and flirting.
Kurt absolutely refuses to look repentant in the least. "I'll be working on this room. Besides, there was worse in here before. What's a couple of pieces of rice und a fortune?" The laugh brings about a wide grin, and he shakes his head. "Didn't you know that you -never- give household items for Christmas? That's the way to bitter arguments und divorce. Unless you're an old, married couple. Then, you've reached cynical level und the fact that there was a -thought- about a gift, even for Christmas is something that is appreciated. Or.." Kurt folds his hands in, wrapping himself like a bat, and he turns his head to look at his daughter, an impish smile rising.
"Und I'm certain that even Amanda doesn't want to see me in a French Maid's outfit."
TJ's arms cross over her chest, looking right back at the blue elf while they hang there. "So you're going to make it your own sty in the meantime? Amanda and I worked hard to get this place cleaned up! If you're going to leave a pile of food wherever you go then the next time we'll sweep you up into the dustpan and deposit you where appropriate. It always starts with one, you know."
Bitter arguments and divorce. "Well then it's a good thing we're related by blood, huh. Good luck getting rid of your daughter. Timejumps don't like to accept any returns. I know, I've tried!"
What... If one were to listen closely enough they might be able to hear the thud from the moment where TJ's mind attempts to shift gears at high rev's without a clutch. "How did we even--!" she starts in, fingers pointing in completely random directions before she makes a disgusted face. "Yeck! Think I need to take my short-term memory out with the rest of your garbage!"
See? It's a cheap way of 'winning', sure, but it's a way that Kurt finds no end of amusement when it presents itself. "Remember that, Herzchen.. you can't get rid of me now. Even with your own, personal bamf." There are those shiny fangs once again.
"I will clean. I swear," and here, Kurt makes a flourished 'X' across his chest. "But this is my bedroom for the time being. See? My laundry pile is over there," and he points towards a corner where there is a pile of.. something. "Don't stare at it too long. It will move.."
"On the contrary," TJ attempts to intervene with that familiar old grin, "you're stuck with me now."
Sloooowly she turns to look at the pile, having a legitimate reason to be concerned about it moving on its own power. "After what we've encountered around here..? That's not as funny as it should be." Blink. "But you know what else you have to worry about?"
When her tail comes back around it has a crab rangoon neatly held against the blue spade. "Thieves."
-Foomp!-
She reappears just within the doorway a few feet away. "..Ah darnit, I still can't go through walls."
"Oh, that's a hard-- hey!"
His crab rangoon!
"I got you the teryaki unidentified meat on the stick!" Or at least it was a soakoff incase either she or Amanda appeared to steal his food. "Meat on a sti-"
-Bamf!-
Kurt teleports down, and lands on the other side of the door, stepping through with a wide grin on his face. "I can bamf in.. und I can bamf out.." And that's exactly what he does.. in rapidfire teleports.
"In.."
-Bamf!-
"Out.."
Though after a couple of times, Kurt is back into the rafters, perching like a gargoyle, and he's leaning over to view the floor below. "Would you like to go out to the park?"
Somewhere in there, when Kurt's bamfing between rooms like that, Tj stuffs the stolen rangoon into her maw. All of it. At once.
When he returns and asks about going out to the park all she can do to respond is look back to the rafters and offer a muffled "Ohay."
It's entirely possible that she had expected to have her treat stolen away from her while Kurt was busy showing off how much better he is at teleporting. Fortunately it takes a lot more than the stench of sulfur to put this girl off of her appetite.
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