Going Somewhere?
Posted on Thu Nov 3rd, 2022 @ 3:16pm by Connor Bruin & Iris Walker
1,043 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2: Northern X-Posure
Location: X-Mansion | Girls Dormitory
Timeline: August 6th, 1990
Morning came for Iris much the way it had before the accident at the Roxxon facility which plunged her into temporary evanescence. Would things ever be the same though? Only time would tell. She quickly changed from her sleep clothes and decided to investigate the smell of breakfast wafting from the hall.
When the door opened into the hallway, a distinct voice called out. "Ira! Ira!"
Though he could not see her, Connor was perched like a spider above the doorframe in futile vigil over the entire hallway. The door would not have opened on its own, so that meant Iris must be present even if Connor could not visually or in other ways process her presence.
"I'm here!" said Iris automatically, turning around to see who called- as if she didn't already know. But, she did not see her friend anywhere. "Connor?" she called, brow wrinkling.
Connor flipped down from his cramped position and presented a book. It was apparently the reason he had not used his speech-generating device. Opening to a marked page, he presented Iris with a poem.
Iris jumped, startled. Of course he'd been above her door. Where else would he be? She grinned and automatically took the book and read the poem. She had to read it through a few times to catch the meaning, but through extrapolation, guessed it was meant for her. "Do you mean me?" she asked. "Do I... do I make you better?"
The question made Connor sigh. Was it her fault for not getting it or did he just have too great of expectations? Fortunately he came prepared. His speech-generating device was preset with a soliloquy which is why he had not used it until now.
"I found it ironic that my thoughts were with you even when you were not with me. I cannot perceive you unless you draw my attention but that is not unique for me. My executive function does not process whatever is not holding my attention. If I do not focus on it, then I do not perceive it. But I perceived you even when you were gone. I noticed your absence. When you returned, my focus shifted because I knew you were no longer absent. This is a new development and I do not understand it. Walt Whitman's poem Going Somehwere explained it better than I could."
Iris’s mouth opened into a tiny O a she nodded. “I see,” she said finally. “It… could it be because we’re friends? Have you had a friend before? I mean, like a real true friend who treats you as an equal.”
The question made Connor purse his lips in thought, but he just shrugged. Then, as though struck by a thought, he began pushing buttons furiously on his SGD. "PERHAPS. YOUR. MUTATION. HAS. AN. INVERSE. RELATIONSHIP. WITH. DISTANCE. IT. COULD. EXPLAIN. WHY. PASSAGE. OF. TIME. AFFECTED. ME."
“Hm,” mused Iris. It was a lot to take in and she wasn’t quite sure she fully understood. “So you’re saying I affect people I meet by simply no longer being there? Or at least the people who are important to me?”
Connor shrugged, but then seized Iris in a hug with his broad shoulders and stocky arms.
Which elicited a squealing sort of giggle from Iris. “You’re crushing me, Connor!” She laughed breathlessly.
At her protest, Connor released her and gave his chest two thumps.
“You’re stronger than you realize,” she replied with a grin, rubbing her chest. “It’s good to see you again. I’ve missed you!”
Connor pressed his point fingers against the side of eyes and looked at her askance. Then he closed his eyes, covered them with his hands for good measure, and grunted three times in what might have been counting. With hands free and eyes open, he searched for Iris in the position she had been standing. Fingers pressed against his eyes once more, he stared fervently right through her. And, then, his hands reached forward as though grasping at cobwebs.
To Iris’s surprise, his left hand actually landed on top of her head. Her eyes grew to three times their size as she locked eyes with Connor. “Oh. My. Goodness!” she exclaimed. Even though he’d known where she was, it was still astonishing that he’d been able to locate her. Nobody had ever been able to do that before. She vaguely wondered if he could learn how to find her even when he didn’t know where she was.
"Ira!" shouted Connor in excitement. He fished out his SGD and began typing furiously. "I. KNEW. IT. I. STILL. SAW. YOU. IN. MY. MIND. EVEN. THOUGH. MY. EYES. DID. NOT." He then rubbed a circle on his chest and gave it a thump.
“I sure hope you can learn how to do that even when you don’t know I’m there,” she commented. “Something tells me it could come in handy eventually.”
Connor shrugged again. He touched his hand to the side of his head and flung it away before sticking both pointer fingers in front of him and sticking them over his head while making a "whoosh" sound.
"I have no idea what that means," said Iris. "I guess I'm gonna have to learn sign language, huh?"
With a sigh, Connor began typing out a message. "I. CANNOT. LEARN. WHAT. I. DO. NOT. FULLY. UNDERSTAND. YET. YOUR. POWER. STILL. GOES. OVER. MY. HEAD." He chewed the inside of his cheek, darted his eyes to the side, and then let out a hoot.
"I get it," replied Iris. "I don't even understand them, to be honest. Maybe the Professor can help me figure them out. Anyway, I was just going to breakfast. Wanna come?"
With two chest thumps and three hoots, Connor was already bounding down the hall and well head of Iris. He perched atop the bannister, waving for her to follow.
"All right, I'm coming," laughed Iris, hurrying after him. "But I have little legs!"
END
OOC Note: Walt Whitman's poem "Going Somewhere" can be read at https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/going-somewhere.
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