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"Yeah, it's .. " Kyle stole a ring of pineapple from the stack, and pulled it into a few pieces with his claws. "It's pretty heavy. You know how we used to have a school here, like, for real?" He chewed on one piece of pineapple and then hopped up onto the counter to keep from pacing. "Shit, actually I gotta go back before that, even. Okay, so. Okay, you know how there's... " He huffed out in frustration and then tossed the entire rest of the pineapple ring in his mouth, chewing angrily. "It's quantum shit, I really don't get the science, but there were a bunch of universes, different versions of everyone. One of them, Doc Grey was like. Evil. Like, power hungry completely batshit insane, evil, and she was like, trying to take over other universes. And we stopped her, but like, a lot of people died. Doc Grey died, the one we have now is like. Younger." He leaned his head back, clunking it against a cabinet door. "So the Doc Grey I knew died, a bunch of the kids I taught died, and then when everything was over, there were new versions of a bunch of people, and it was kinda fucked up." "Jeanie was evil?" Terry asked, shock making her drop the butcher knife to the counter for a moment before she remembered herself. "Christ Almighty," she half-whispered as the magnitude of what Kyle was telling her really sank in - not just that her friend had been power-hungry (and powerful) enough to destroy whole universes, but that it'd caused him to go through having to watch new versions of people he'd known before to turn up. Did they know him when they did? Were they entirely different people? How painful must that have been? Reaching toward Kyle, Terry settled her hand on his knee, gave it a squeeze, and said, "I'm so incredibly sorry you had to experience that." "It's why I've got a shit ton of therapy and, you know, was a bum for a while." Kyle grinned, without any energy to it. "Like, honestly the worst part was that star brain dude like, like I guess the mushed together universes were really fragile, so for like, years none of us could talk about it." He rubbed his face, and let out a frustrated noise that was at least half low growl. "Man, there is like, so much that changed, and a lot of shit that didn't, which blows more. Super powerful star brain, fucker couldn't give me my mom back." "Your - " Terry broke off, foregoing the rest of the pineapple. She stepped over so she could rest some of her weight against Kyle's knee. "Christ, love. We don't have t'talk about this anymore, if you'd rather not. I'm... I'm sorry I brought it up." "I mean." Kyle shrugged. "Like. I mean." He sagged against the cabinet. "I've done therapy about this, kinda, I mean it's hard to explain to a therapist the details. Jesus can I say I mean any more times." He looked up at the ceiling, clunking his head against the wooden cabinet door. "It's a lot. Scott and Jean used to be married." He laughed, dark and bitter. "Hell, Ter. I knew a you from before, you were married. To Bobby Drake." "Who?" "Oh shit. Um. Dude who can make ice, here he's like nineteen or something, he was... " Kyle shrugged. "It's really weird to think about. It's really weird to talk about. I, uh." He shut his eyes, and rubbed them with his fists. "I spent a lot of time like, just thinking about how everyone who is a new version isn't the same person at all. I mean, Ter, you don't even look the same. Jean kinda does. Bobby totes doesn't. It's a lot easier to just go with "okay they're totally different people." "Well, as I've no inclination t'run of and marry a nineteen year old," Terry said, a rueful half-smile on her face. "I'll not have y'thinkin' o' me as that other person, anyway." She took a slow breath, frowning just a little, and handed Kyle another ring of pineapple and asked, "Want your cold vodka? Or would y'like t'stop talkin', sit on the couch, and snuggle?" |
