Summary:Rachel visits Carin and gets to explain the story of how exactly she arrived in this reality. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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The day before had been a lot of tough reveleations for poor Carin. Rachel knew it might take time for the girl to properly get back on her feet, and as the one that had helped ease those revelations out, she felt a bit responsible for at least making sure she was doing all right. Which is why she returns to the safehouse alone today. Knocking on the door she leans her head up near it to check for sounds within. She could just do a quick mental probe, but she's trying to avoid that.
Leaning up against the door, music can be heard. Mostly because it's being played fairly loudly. Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, at the moment! Might be why the initial knock isn't responded to immediately, might be the current resident just didn't hear it over the tunes. But there's no sense of distress or anything coming from inside, at least. And of course, Rachel has the key for the house, since it's an X-men safe house to begin with.
Rachel Summers hums thoughtfully. Should she just go? Or… Wait she wants what? What were the lyrics to that song? Curious she fishes out the key to slip into the lock. Another knock is given, louder, just before she shoulders the door open to step inside. "Hello? Carin?" The music draws her closer to the source as she walks down the hall.
The music is coming from the kitchen, as it happens, and is easily lound enough to cover the sound of the door opening and closing as Rachel walks down the corridor towards it. To discover…Carin, currently jamming out as she sings along with the music, currently stirring up a container of what looks like instant ramen, hips swaying and wiggling back and forth as she gets into it. Of course, RAchel's louder greeting causes her to jump…and blur as she's suddenly across the room, her eyes wide in startlement, the spoon she was using tumbling through the air to clatter on the stove. "OH! Ah…h-hi…." she says, taking a deep breath as she rests a hand on her chest. "Fuck, I didn't hear you come in!"
Rachel Summers jerks in surprise herself when Carin zooms across the room in such a manner. It was a bit unnerving to experience unexpectedly even knowing that was someone's ability. Lightly clearing her throat she offers the girl a grin of amusement. "Yeah, sorry, I tried knocking but…" She gestures absently toward the radio as if that explained it all. "I was just coming by to check up on you. You seem to be doing pretty good though," she has to admit even as she glances to the spoon that had fallen onto the stovetop with a chuckle. "At least nothing caught fire."
Another blur and the radio flicks off as Carin appears by it again, sighing, as she takes a deep breath, then giggles a bit. "I can manage nto burning ramen, at least…" she insists, walking over to turn off the burner, sticking the spoon back in the pot as she stirs it a bit more. "It can simmer anyway. Um, hi, welcome back!" the pale redhead notes. "I wasn't expecting anyone today."
Rachel Summers chuckles as she walks in further stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket—Which wasn't on. Bad habit, Rach. Her hands kind of skim over her hips before she opts to cross her arms instead not knowing what else to do with them. "You never know. Depends how long you leave it on the burner. Or how much Tabasco you add, if you're into that kind of thing." She shrugs a little and nods. "Yeah, I figured you weren't. But after the other day I just wanted to check on you. If that's not too weird or anything."
"Siracha, usually!" Carin admits cheerfully. "Rooster sauce, if I can find it." She grins a bit, then mmms, her smile fading a little bit as she leans back against the counter, unconsciously mimicking the other redhead's stand as her arms cross over her chest. "I'm…okay, it's still a bit…freaky, but I'm okay. At least I know something, right? Even if it…sucked." She frowns a bit, chewing cutely on her lower lip. "Are you wanting to try again? I'm all for it. Whatever you can help me remember…."
Rachel Summers uncrosses her arms to hold up with a small shake of her head. "I'm up for trying again but not right now. I could, but I know that sometimes helping people remember things too quickly can be a blow to the mind. Plus," she adds with a little shrug, "I get to ride along with those feelings as you remember them. I've been through a lot myself, but sometimes even I need a break." Lowering her hands again she offers an apologetic smile. "Sometime soon though, if you're up for it. There's no need to rush."
Carin tilts her head a bit, a little flicker of relief crossing her face despite her words. "Yeah…okay." she says after a momment, huffing out. "So, uh…what's your story? I mean you're with the, uh, X-Men too? Like Cessily and Rahne and Nori, and the big metal guy?" She tilts her head slightly, curious now.
Rachel Summers winces at the question. "It's… complicated." She lets out a small sigh at this, rubbing the back of her head. How exactly did she explain this? "Do you ever watch scifi movies? Like with time travel and alternate dimensions and stuff?" There's a small hopeful look at her question, but she also doesn't know what Carin's been up to this whole time in the safe house. "It's… uh. Fuck. Well, I'm kind of from both. An alternate future that has split off from this timeline… Like I said, complicated."
Carin blinks at the questin. "Um…sure, like…what, Terminator or stuff? Timecop? Back to the Future?" she says slowly, her green eyes curious now. "Uh…so you're…from the future from an alternate reality." she repeats, making sure she's following it. "And you're…wait, how did you get here, then?" She frowns. "…and are we your alternate reality, or are you our alternate realityt hen?"
Rachel Summers lets out a puff of breath. She holds up a hand, and then moves to the kitchen counter to rummage around in a drawer. A few forks are pulled out. "These will do. Here, let me try to explain some." She moves to lay out the forks in a circle with their handles all facing inward. "See, each of these forks starts in one length, and then splits off into four parts, right? That's kind of like how a timeline works. Each different decision that could result in a different outcome is a tine of the fork. Only there's a *lot* more than four."
One of the forks is moved up along the other to add another 'branch' off the main fork. "Let's say that you decided to make deep fried shrimp instead of ramen. Then when I came in, startling you DID cause it to catch fire on the stove, which resulted in the entire safe house getting fire damage and being unusable for awhile for future visitors. That would be this alternate timeline," she adds pointing to the second fork. Her finger follows back down along it, "But even though that different decision was made, there was still a point where it meets up with THIS fork because it all started with your decision of lunch, and my decision to visit you. That's the two common points in both possible outcomes. Which is why I can travel BACK to a shared point…" Her finger travels back up the fork only to pause, "But now I can't get to that other timeline because the decision you made was to have ramen."
Carin walks over to watch the explanation. "Sure…like…anytime you make a major decision, it makes a new version of the world." she says curiously. "So…you can travel back because that….point is in your past, so if you go back into the past, where you came from is now…your future or something? So you're not bound by it because you're not in that timeline anymore, so it's…not a paradox thing. Right?" she squestions, peering over at the other woman.
Rachel Summers nods in response to that. "Right, exactly. It's also why I can't travel forward again. I'm well past that point of commonality. So essentially I'm stuck here in this current time. I try to keep an eye out for possible occurances that *might* lead to my future to make sure it doesn't happen, but that's the most I can do." She flashes a smile at Carin with a shrug. "My future is kinda crappy."
Carin frowns, biting her lower lip, then says slowly. "Well…that's…good? I mean, if you're in a different timeline…that future doesn't happen, right? So things will be different here…" She tilts her head, then reaches out to pat your arm lightly. "So…uh…good you're here?"
Rachel Summers grins lopsided at Carin. "Thanks. Essentially that's it. I was sent back to save myself and try to keep our future from happening. It may not, but that doesn't mean one of a billion other variations might…" She blinks a moment, then clears her throat. "But honestly it's different enough here now that I'm not overly worried." Yeah no need to freak out the girl, Rach. Duh.
"Uh, well, as long as this isn't a Donnie Darko thing where you have to die for the future to change or something…wait, if you're in the past, does that mean you're around somewhere as a baby or something?" she says uncertainly, peering at Rachel. "Or like your parents or grandparents are running around here somewhere?"
Rachel Summers shifts uncomfortably at that, tipping her head upward with a little clearing of her throat. "My parents. I'm actually older than my mom here. It's weird as hell," she has to admit as she looks back to Carin with a shrug. "And my dad is apparently dating someone else. Which is why I'm pretty sure my timeline isn't about to happen."
Carin blinkblinks. "Oooooh, you've /met/ them. Crap. Um, do they know that you're…their alternate daughter then?" she says, stepping over closer with a frown. "Fuck, that's got to be rough for you….and them…"
Rachel Summers drops her head into her hand with a woebegone sigh. "I do because apparently my idiot baby brother from an alternate timeline showed up about the same time and blabbed everything. Men have no subtlety."
Carin blinkblinks a bit at that, digesting it. "…ah. Right. From /another/ alternate timeline. Wow, your family seems to have a lot of that….you don't have any others floating around right? Evil clones of you or your mother or something?"
Rachel Summers has to think hard on that. "I'm not sure, but the way my dad has received the reality of me being here? … Maybe." Her eyes narrow and she shakes her head firmly. "Trying not to think too much about that. Apparently my family is messed up and often the source for a lot of crummy futures. Which is really kind of sobering a thought come to think of it." It was a joke and she cracks a smile at Carin. "Anyway. You seem to be doing fine… your ramen is probably boiling over though. I should head out and let you enjoy your meal."
Carin erks and looks ove,r then hurries over to shut off the stove, then whews, moving it to another burner to cool, before she frowns, turning to face you and walking back over. "Well…I'm glad you're here, then. In a better time. And I hope you'll be happier. And hey, you saw how my family went." She frowns quiety. "At least you have friends here, right? So it could be worse…" She looks vaguely disappointed. "Oh, you gotta take off already?"
Rachel Summers grins faintly at Carin's apparent disappointment. "Sorry, yeah. I mean. I guess I can come back later if you want? We could watch a movie or something? I kind of agreed to take care of some stuff though and I should get on that."
Carin perks. "Sure! It's kinda boring here all by myself…but Netflix or something sounds awesome." She beams a bit. "Um, okay, I'll let you get to your stuff then? Maybe…I'll be able tol get out of here soon and actually just hang with you all more. When you're sure it's safe for you."
Rachel Summers grins at that with a nod of agreement. "You'll be out soon I'm sure. It seems to be a pretty quick process for the most part," she assures. "I'll catch you later then. Pick something cool to watch okay?"
The redhead speedster grins. "You bet! I got like, a major backlog of stuff to watch…" she admits, then waves. "Take care, see ya soon!" And it's back to her ramen…before it gets TOO cold. Now she's got movies to pick out at least!