Death brings them all together. It comes as no real surprise to Kurt; he's watched the reverberations of grief run through this community countless times in countless ways over the years, from the small gestures to the larger and more shocking outpourings of emotion. It stands to reason that Krakoa obeys those same rules, though the size and scope of the party that results isn't quite what he expected.
It's good, though, to have something to think about for a while that's not the psychically scrubbed memories of the Orchis station. His fur is still a little damp from washing away the egg goo and he's not sure he got all of it out, but he doesn't stop himself from mingling, though his gaze and his attention keeps being drawn back to the other members of that party, the mutants who accompanied them on that final strike. He even, at one point, exchanges a hug with his mother, though she reminds him that it's a unique occasion.
Death brings them together.
During a lull he finds himself, for the moment, mostly alone, watching Dazzler take to the stage for her third encore of the evening. Sipping his drink, he lets his mind wander.
There's more familiar faces here than he has the names to go with. It's surreal to see that many mutants in one place. For the same reason no less. The same joy and hope and ambition for whatever this place is to them now. It still feels too soon to call it home exactly, but maybe that's just cautious pessimism speaking.
Things do feel different this time though. Even he can't deny that. It takes something more than a pretty speech and a promise to inspire some of the smiles and handshakes he catches himself eavesdropping on. It's hard to imagine a bridge strong enough to bear the weight of what's being built upon it.
There's only one drink left, dangling from his six pack holder when the desire to step back from the noise a while is interrupted by a familiar face, uncharacteristically alone in the crowd.
He slings a heavy arm around Kurt's neck and speaks with his lips against the man's ear to keep from having to shout over all else.
"Came back with everything in the right place I hope."
He knows Logan's around; the Canadian mutant is difficult to miss, even in a crowd this big. He'd spotted him talking to Gorgon and getting waylaid by the currently extended Summers clan and hadn't bothered to suppress the smile at the old man finally being given the welcome Kurt had always privately thought he deserved. But the paths of his own thoughts had distracted him, and the first he knows of Logan arriving at his side is a familiar weight thrown over his shoulders and a beery breath warm against his cheek.
Kurt tilts his head a little, enough to be able to look at Logan out of the corner of his eye.
"I certainly assume so, otherwise the Five will have some explaining to do." He hums thoughtfully as he brings his cup to his mouth. "Having a whole new body is an interesting experience, don't you think? So many things to relearn."
"I think you'll have to ask somebody who doesn't go through body parts as fast as I do" His smile isn't just smug as usual. It's lazy and untroubled in a way that the weathered lines of his face rarely give in to. "But if you need hand a gettin' a feel for things..."
The glow of another spray of lights cast warm and colourful shadows across Kurt's face. The sight of him here and real and smiling is about the only thing cure he's found for that nagging feeling he woke up with. The irritating itch in the back of his mind that tells him he's missing something.
"They told me how it went. The mission. The forge," he says knowing this probably isn't the place or the time to talk about their last moments together. It's supposed to be a celebration, but these might be the only moments they get any more to reflect on the things that matter without their impending future interrupting. "Is it weird that I wish I could remember it? Our last moments together."
The smile lighting up Logan's craggy features is as welcome as the Krakoan nectar on Kurt's tongue; maybe moreso, for the guilty warmth the combination brings in its wake. This is how it's always been between them, for years. Easy and uncomplicated in ways few things in their lives are.
Though even on the heels of that, he finds himself frowning slightly at the older man's question. Logan isn't alone in wondering. As he looks at him he reaches back in his own mind, searching for some thread of memory, some dreamlike hint, but there's nothing beyond the first frantic moments. The Five act according to Xavier's request, and they're very good at what they do.
He's seen the footage, though, as a Council member, the bits and pieces stolen from Orchis' servers. Though even those are indistinct beyond a certain point.
"I don't think it's weird." He turns slightly under Logan's arm, so he can look at him properly as Dazzler's display paints them both in pulsing shades of red and orange and the crowd spins up into another wave of celebratory noise around them. The points of his fangs are very white in the shadows as he grins. "I assume we put on a good show, naturlich."
It's not like him to be swept up by anything too optimistic, but the energy of this place and its people and its promises is impossible to ignore. At least when they're here in the thick of it.
It even makes him nostalgic about a suicide mission he can't remember and whether or not Kurt lets him off the hook for focusing on that amidst all of this, he knows it's weird. It's just nice to have someone to think his weird thoughts aloud with.
"Course we did," he beams back. Not just convinced of that but tickled by Kurt's toothy smile too. "Pretty sure I heard the words 'mission critical' and 'as stupid as it was bold' bandied about. Whatever we did up there, I can't think of a way I'd rather go out."
krakoa -- life's a party
It's good, though, to have something to think about for a while that's not the psychically scrubbed memories of the Orchis station. His fur is still a little damp from washing away the egg goo and he's not sure he got all of it out, but he doesn't stop himself from mingling, though his gaze and his attention keeps being drawn back to the other members of that party, the mutants who accompanied them on that final strike. He even, at one point, exchanges a hug with his mother, though she reminds him that it's a unique occasion.
Death brings them together.
During a lull he finds himself, for the moment, mostly alone, watching Dazzler take to the stage for her third encore of the evening. Sipping his drink, he lets his mind wander.
no subject
Things do feel different this time though. Even he can't deny that. It takes something more than a pretty speech and a promise to inspire some of the smiles and handshakes he catches himself eavesdropping on. It's hard to imagine a bridge strong enough to bear the weight of what's being built upon it.
There's only one drink left, dangling from his six pack holder when the desire to step back from the noise a while is interrupted by a familiar face, uncharacteristically alone in the crowd.
He slings a heavy arm around Kurt's neck and speaks with his lips against the man's ear to keep from having to shout over all else.
"Came back with everything in the right place I hope."
no subject
Kurt tilts his head a little, enough to be able to look at Logan out of the corner of his eye.
"I certainly assume so, otherwise the Five will have some explaining to do." He hums thoughtfully as he brings his cup to his mouth. "Having a whole new body is an interesting experience, don't you think? So many things to relearn."
no subject
The glow of another spray of lights cast warm and colourful shadows across Kurt's face. The sight of him here and real and smiling is about the only thing cure he's found for that nagging feeling he woke up with. The irritating itch in the back of his mind that tells him he's missing something.
"They told me how it went. The mission. The forge," he says knowing this probably isn't the place or the time to talk about their last moments together. It's supposed to be a celebration, but these might be the only moments they get any more to reflect on the things that matter without their impending future interrupting. "Is it weird that I wish I could remember it? Our last moments together."
no subject
Though even on the heels of that, he finds himself frowning slightly at the older man's question. Logan isn't alone in wondering. As he looks at him he reaches back in his own mind, searching for some thread of memory, some dreamlike hint, but there's nothing beyond the first frantic moments. The Five act according to Xavier's request, and they're very good at what they do.
He's seen the footage, though, as a Council member, the bits and pieces stolen from Orchis' servers. Though even those are indistinct beyond a certain point.
"I don't think it's weird." He turns slightly under Logan's arm, so he can look at him properly as Dazzler's display paints them both in pulsing shades of red and orange and the crowd spins up into another wave of celebratory noise around them. The points of his fangs are very white in the shadows as he grins. "I assume we put on a good show, naturlich."
no subject
It even makes him nostalgic about a suicide mission he can't remember and whether or not Kurt lets him off the hook for focusing on that amidst all of this, he knows it's weird. It's just nice to have someone to think his weird thoughts aloud with.
"Course we did," he beams back. Not just convinced of that but tickled by Kurt's toothy smile too. "Pretty sure I heard the words 'mission critical' and 'as stupid as it was bold' bandied about. Whatever we did up there, I can't think of a way I'd rather go out."