Hope & Sooraya; two worlds
Dec. 31st, 2023 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsSooraya stops by with some things for Hope, and they discuss some differences between Hope's world and this one. Slightly backdated to December 31st.
Hope had returned to the medlab after a strange week - meeting new people, helping to fix broken things, and even being fed foods that had previously been special-occasion only. She had a strange floating feeling of hurt that only went away when she was truly distracted, returning in quiet moments that made her twist her fingers anxiously - waiting for news of her father that so far hadn't come. She was curled up on her bed in the medlab (her last night there, she'd been promised) flipping through a magazine, a little bit puzzled by the fashion editorial pictures.
"Hey Hope..." Sooraya poked her head around the door, a small grin in place. "I heard you're getting sprung from the medlab tomorrow. I thought I'd bring you a few things."
Hope brightened. "Sooraya! Hi!" she said, uncurling and sitting up. "Yeah, they said I could have a room tomorrow. Even if I'm only staying until we find Dad - or he'll come back soon."
"I hope that is sooner than later for you, but I'm glad you'll have a place of your own." Sooraya bent down, lifting the laundry basket in her hands. "I took the liberty of gathering some things for you. I know you have your backpack, but there is plenty of other stuff you'll need."
"That's so nice," Hope said, accepting the basket gratefully. "I'm - I mean, I won't be here that long, though. Are you sure it's okay? You can use this stuff again after I have it?"
"You can take some things with you, but yes, for what stays behind we'll find someone else who can use it." Sooraya took a seat next to her on the bed, pulling the basket in between them. "Now, most of this is fairly basic. A kit with toiletries, a towel or two and some clothes. But I put a few other goodies in." Setting aside the toiletries and clothes, she pulled out a stuffed animal. "I thought you might like a friend."
Eyes wide with surprise, Hope accepted the little stuffed animal. "He's so cute," she said. "It's a - a - what's the word. An armadillo!" Her fingers dug into the plush fabric, though she didn't quite hug it to herself, consciously trying not to look like a little kid. "Thank you," she said instead. "I like him a lot."
"And since you liked the hot chocolate so much, I figured you'd like this." Sooraya put a big mug with little cartoon figures dancing all over it on the bed. Tucked inside were a variety of tiny packages. "There are a few different kinds of tea and a little instant hot chocolate. It's not as good as the real thing, but you only have to add hot water."
"I love it," Hope said sincerely, one hand drifting to the rest of the contents. A pad of paper with pens and pencils, a few soft sweaters, Disney Monopoly in a box - practical things that had nonetheless been chosen to bring comfort. "This is . . . really nice. Thank you. But I'm - " She looked up guiltily. "My dad is going to be here soon, and I, um, I didn't mean to, but I wrecked your house. You don't have to be nice to me."
"And now you are helping fix it. I saw you helping Madin with the carpet earlier today." Sooraya let out a tiny sigh. "Hope, you are someone who needed help and came into our care. Someone who needed maybe a little bit of a second chance. That is what this is."
Hope's mouth twisted to one side, and her shoulders tensed a little, but she nodded, provisionally comforted pending more information. "It's really different here," she said, her voice a little quiet. "I didn't expect it to be this different. I mean - I don't know what I expected. But it wasn't - " She gestured at the room around them.
"I can't even begin to imagine. What is it you've found most different so far?" Sooraya carefully stacked the various supplies back in the basket, leaving only the little stuffed armadillo, before putting the basket on the floor next to the bed. "Outside of the people of course."
"It's so - um, I don't mean clean, but kind of like clean? Everything looks so new. Back home, it's hard to get supplies, you know? We try to keep things nice, but repairs are just what we can get. The town was so weird. There wasn't the market or anything. And there's so much glass everywhere." She paused, looking down at her hands. "And, um, it's weird because people look like the people I know, except younger, but they aren't the people I know, and I've never - I never went anywhere without someone, you know? Things weren't really safe."
That sounded pretty dark. And after the discussion with members from the various teams, Sooraya couldn't quite get Rachel and her stories from her head. "What was what made it so unsafe? And so hard to get supplies?" She ventured carefully.
"Well - " Hope's expression turned thoughtful. "I mean, the war with Apocalypse was really bad. I wasn't born then, but Grandma says more than six billion people died in the first two years and that was just direct casualties. There used to be a lot of countries around the world, but even after Dad and the X-Men defeated him, there were a lot of wars over resources and stuff. Grandma says they did their best to help, but they didn't have that many people. So that's why they started New Liberty at Uncle Charles's place, to at least give some people a safe place to go. And I think things maybe started getting better for a little while. But then also - "
She scrunched up her nose, the second part of the story more real to her. "Nobody knows why, but the dimensional barrier got damaged. It was around when I was born, so I don't remember it, but Dad says it affected a lot of dimensions, not just ours. So things started breaking through, sometimes. Monsters, or people kind of looking to steal resources that we needed, or - lots of things. So everyone says that we have to solve that or things can't really get better, but nobody knows how to fix the dimensional barrier either." She looked like she wanted to say more, but fell silent instead, focusing on inward thoughts.
"Dimensional monsters?" Sooraya fought to keep the disbelief out of her voice. "Real monsters?"
"Um, sometimes? Maybe they're just animals in their worlds - I dunno, they're pretty scary, though. I saw them a couple times. Dad says some dimensions are just like that, and some are really nice like this one."
"It's something definitely new to me." Sooraya simply admitted. And something else to report. "So what did your life there look like for you? You must've been on guard pretty much all the time."
"We had a work schedule," Hope said simply. "I do my training in the morning - Dad says that's the best time of day, before everyone else is awake. And then there's, um - there's lab shifts - that's usually just helping Uncle Hank with whatever he needs, repair shifts, sanitation shifts for the septic system or helping with the water plant, sometimes we trade with other communities - sometimes Auntie Clary even teleports us. And I help in the hangar with the vehicles and the jet, and supply runs for when we need parts. And guard shifts, of course. It's someone's job to make sure everything gets covered every week. Not mine, though." It was clearly a life with a lot of hard work, though Hope sounded perfectly matter-of-fact about it, even excited when describing certain things.
"It takes a lot of work to keep a community like that going. Especially if getting stuff is difficult." Sooraya nodded, noting the familiar names. "So what did you enjoy the most? Sanitation shifts don't sound like the most fun thing to do, to be honest."
"I'd rather do sanitation shifts than school," Hope said immediately. "Grandma says it's important but it's boring and it takes forever when there's so much else to do." Or literally anything else to do, her tone implied.
Sooraya couldn't stop her laughing: "Sanitation worse than school? I know many folks who don't like school, but not that bad. And not everything. Just because it's boring? Are there no classes you enjoy studying?"
"Sometimes Uncle Hank gives me math worksheets when there's nothing else to do in the lab," Hope said doubtfully. "Or he'll make up math games or things like that. That's not so bad. But sitting around and just reading - " Her tone implied loathing - "is the worst." She paused, appalled by a sudden terrible thought: "You don't have schools here, do you?"
"Sorry Hope, but most all kids your age go to school, five days a week from about eight till three or four." Sooraya quickly explained. "There are some other options, but for many things in this world you need at least a few years of school."
"Every day?" Hope was appalled, her jimmies rustled, her chill impeded. "What do they even learn for all that time?" She had been willing to give this world a chance, but there were limits. School?
"Five days a week." Sooraya confirmed with a nod. "And what they learn? Uhm... that can be lots of things. English, math, all kinds of science, history and geography, foreign language, art, gym, more practical stuff..."
"That's so much school," Hope said. "I'm glad I'm not from this world. Back home we just kinda do whatever Grandma says, when there's time." She paused. "So what do you do, here? Are you an X-Man?"
"I am." Sooraya confirmed. "For about twelve years now. But I also work a lot in an area called District X in New York City. I manage two or three projects there and I help kids to get an education. Not really as a teacher, but more making sure they have what they need to learn."
"Is the city - um, intact?" Hope asked, dubiously. "Or . . . mostly?"
"I think our worlds may be even more different than you believe, Hope." Sooraya bit her lip, her mind running through all of what she could share here. "We never had a war with Apocalypse here. Major cities here in the US are all intact. That doesn't mean all is well though. For example, many mutants lead a tough life because society has not accepted us. Many live in hiding." That was probably more than enough to drop on the girl's head for now.
It took Hope a moment to absorb all this, her eyebrows coming together. "Dad says - " Her voice wavered uncertainly. "Dad says there's all kinds of universes. I guess it's just weird to really be in one that's so different. I know, um . . . at home, sometimes mutant communities fight with human ones. But it seems weird that they wouldn't be accepted in their own community, that's all."
Sooraya took a moment to suck in another deep breath. More hard truths to come. "There aren't that many real mutant communities in our world. Eight years ago, something very strange, but devastating happened. It's called M-Day. More than a million mutants around the world suddenly exploded and with them a lot of other people died. There weren't that many mutants left and humans became pretty afraid... More then they already were."
Hope looked almost hurt, hearing this, clearly taking the words to heart. "I'm sorry," she said finally, quietly. "I didn't know that happened here. That's horrible."
"It was a very hard time." Sooraya simply agreed. "And I think if you end up staying longer, you are gonna discover even more differences."
Hope nodded. "Dad will be back soon," she said simply. She paused, reminded of something. "Hey, Sooraya? Um, Madin said something earlier - what month is it? And, um, year?"
Hope had returned to the medlab after a strange week - meeting new people, helping to fix broken things, and even being fed foods that had previously been special-occasion only. She had a strange floating feeling of hurt that only went away when she was truly distracted, returning in quiet moments that made her twist her fingers anxiously - waiting for news of her father that so far hadn't come. She was curled up on her bed in the medlab (her last night there, she'd been promised) flipping through a magazine, a little bit puzzled by the fashion editorial pictures.
"Hey Hope..." Sooraya poked her head around the door, a small grin in place. "I heard you're getting sprung from the medlab tomorrow. I thought I'd bring you a few things."
Hope brightened. "Sooraya! Hi!" she said, uncurling and sitting up. "Yeah, they said I could have a room tomorrow. Even if I'm only staying until we find Dad - or he'll come back soon."
"I hope that is sooner than later for you, but I'm glad you'll have a place of your own." Sooraya bent down, lifting the laundry basket in her hands. "I took the liberty of gathering some things for you. I know you have your backpack, but there is plenty of other stuff you'll need."
"That's so nice," Hope said, accepting the basket gratefully. "I'm - I mean, I won't be here that long, though. Are you sure it's okay? You can use this stuff again after I have it?"
"You can take some things with you, but yes, for what stays behind we'll find someone else who can use it." Sooraya took a seat next to her on the bed, pulling the basket in between them. "Now, most of this is fairly basic. A kit with toiletries, a towel or two and some clothes. But I put a few other goodies in." Setting aside the toiletries and clothes, she pulled out a stuffed animal. "I thought you might like a friend."
Eyes wide with surprise, Hope accepted the little stuffed animal. "He's so cute," she said. "It's a - a - what's the word. An armadillo!" Her fingers dug into the plush fabric, though she didn't quite hug it to herself, consciously trying not to look like a little kid. "Thank you," she said instead. "I like him a lot."
"And since you liked the hot chocolate so much, I figured you'd like this." Sooraya put a big mug with little cartoon figures dancing all over it on the bed. Tucked inside were a variety of tiny packages. "There are a few different kinds of tea and a little instant hot chocolate. It's not as good as the real thing, but you only have to add hot water."
"I love it," Hope said sincerely, one hand drifting to the rest of the contents. A pad of paper with pens and pencils, a few soft sweaters, Disney Monopoly in a box - practical things that had nonetheless been chosen to bring comfort. "This is . . . really nice. Thank you. But I'm - " She looked up guiltily. "My dad is going to be here soon, and I, um, I didn't mean to, but I wrecked your house. You don't have to be nice to me."
"And now you are helping fix it. I saw you helping Madin with the carpet earlier today." Sooraya let out a tiny sigh. "Hope, you are someone who needed help and came into our care. Someone who needed maybe a little bit of a second chance. That is what this is."
Hope's mouth twisted to one side, and her shoulders tensed a little, but she nodded, provisionally comforted pending more information. "It's really different here," she said, her voice a little quiet. "I didn't expect it to be this different. I mean - I don't know what I expected. But it wasn't - " She gestured at the room around them.
"I can't even begin to imagine. What is it you've found most different so far?" Sooraya carefully stacked the various supplies back in the basket, leaving only the little stuffed armadillo, before putting the basket on the floor next to the bed. "Outside of the people of course."
"It's so - um, I don't mean clean, but kind of like clean? Everything looks so new. Back home, it's hard to get supplies, you know? We try to keep things nice, but repairs are just what we can get. The town was so weird. There wasn't the market or anything. And there's so much glass everywhere." She paused, looking down at her hands. "And, um, it's weird because people look like the people I know, except younger, but they aren't the people I know, and I've never - I never went anywhere without someone, you know? Things weren't really safe."
That sounded pretty dark. And after the discussion with members from the various teams, Sooraya couldn't quite get Rachel and her stories from her head. "What was what made it so unsafe? And so hard to get supplies?" She ventured carefully.
"Well - " Hope's expression turned thoughtful. "I mean, the war with Apocalypse was really bad. I wasn't born then, but Grandma says more than six billion people died in the first two years and that was just direct casualties. There used to be a lot of countries around the world, but even after Dad and the X-Men defeated him, there were a lot of wars over resources and stuff. Grandma says they did their best to help, but they didn't have that many people. So that's why they started New Liberty at Uncle Charles's place, to at least give some people a safe place to go. And I think things maybe started getting better for a little while. But then also - "
She scrunched up her nose, the second part of the story more real to her. "Nobody knows why, but the dimensional barrier got damaged. It was around when I was born, so I don't remember it, but Dad says it affected a lot of dimensions, not just ours. So things started breaking through, sometimes. Monsters, or people kind of looking to steal resources that we needed, or - lots of things. So everyone says that we have to solve that or things can't really get better, but nobody knows how to fix the dimensional barrier either." She looked like she wanted to say more, but fell silent instead, focusing on inward thoughts.
"Dimensional monsters?" Sooraya fought to keep the disbelief out of her voice. "Real monsters?"
"Um, sometimes? Maybe they're just animals in their worlds - I dunno, they're pretty scary, though. I saw them a couple times. Dad says some dimensions are just like that, and some are really nice like this one."
"It's something definitely new to me." Sooraya simply admitted. And something else to report. "So what did your life there look like for you? You must've been on guard pretty much all the time."
"We had a work schedule," Hope said simply. "I do my training in the morning - Dad says that's the best time of day, before everyone else is awake. And then there's, um - there's lab shifts - that's usually just helping Uncle Hank with whatever he needs, repair shifts, sanitation shifts for the septic system or helping with the water plant, sometimes we trade with other communities - sometimes Auntie Clary even teleports us. And I help in the hangar with the vehicles and the jet, and supply runs for when we need parts. And guard shifts, of course. It's someone's job to make sure everything gets covered every week. Not mine, though." It was clearly a life with a lot of hard work, though Hope sounded perfectly matter-of-fact about it, even excited when describing certain things.
"It takes a lot of work to keep a community like that going. Especially if getting stuff is difficult." Sooraya nodded, noting the familiar names. "So what did you enjoy the most? Sanitation shifts don't sound like the most fun thing to do, to be honest."
"I'd rather do sanitation shifts than school," Hope said immediately. "Grandma says it's important but it's boring and it takes forever when there's so much else to do." Or literally anything else to do, her tone implied.
Sooraya couldn't stop her laughing: "Sanitation worse than school? I know many folks who don't like school, but not that bad. And not everything. Just because it's boring? Are there no classes you enjoy studying?"
"Sometimes Uncle Hank gives me math worksheets when there's nothing else to do in the lab," Hope said doubtfully. "Or he'll make up math games or things like that. That's not so bad. But sitting around and just reading - " Her tone implied loathing - "is the worst." She paused, appalled by a sudden terrible thought: "You don't have schools here, do you?"
"Sorry Hope, but most all kids your age go to school, five days a week from about eight till three or four." Sooraya quickly explained. "There are some other options, but for many things in this world you need at least a few years of school."
"Every day?" Hope was appalled, her jimmies rustled, her chill impeded. "What do they even learn for all that time?" She had been willing to give this world a chance, but there were limits. School?
"Five days a week." Sooraya confirmed with a nod. "And what they learn? Uhm... that can be lots of things. English, math, all kinds of science, history and geography, foreign language, art, gym, more practical stuff..."
"That's so much school," Hope said. "I'm glad I'm not from this world. Back home we just kinda do whatever Grandma says, when there's time." She paused. "So what do you do, here? Are you an X-Man?"
"I am." Sooraya confirmed. "For about twelve years now. But I also work a lot in an area called District X in New York City. I manage two or three projects there and I help kids to get an education. Not really as a teacher, but more making sure they have what they need to learn."
"Is the city - um, intact?" Hope asked, dubiously. "Or . . . mostly?"
"I think our worlds may be even more different than you believe, Hope." Sooraya bit her lip, her mind running through all of what she could share here. "We never had a war with Apocalypse here. Major cities here in the US are all intact. That doesn't mean all is well though. For example, many mutants lead a tough life because society has not accepted us. Many live in hiding." That was probably more than enough to drop on the girl's head for now.
It took Hope a moment to absorb all this, her eyebrows coming together. "Dad says - " Her voice wavered uncertainly. "Dad says there's all kinds of universes. I guess it's just weird to really be in one that's so different. I know, um . . . at home, sometimes mutant communities fight with human ones. But it seems weird that they wouldn't be accepted in their own community, that's all."
Sooraya took a moment to suck in another deep breath. More hard truths to come. "There aren't that many real mutant communities in our world. Eight years ago, something very strange, but devastating happened. It's called M-Day. More than a million mutants around the world suddenly exploded and with them a lot of other people died. There weren't that many mutants left and humans became pretty afraid... More then they already were."
Hope looked almost hurt, hearing this, clearly taking the words to heart. "I'm sorry," she said finally, quietly. "I didn't know that happened here. That's horrible."
"It was a very hard time." Sooraya simply agreed. "And I think if you end up staying longer, you are gonna discover even more differences."
Hope nodded. "Dad will be back soon," she said simply. She paused, reminded of something. "Hey, Sooraya? Um, Madin said something earlier - what month is it? And, um, year?"
