The X-Project

Who: Cain and Wanda, out in the woods.
What: Two survivors, coping in their own way, come across one another and have a surprisingly deep conversation.



Wanda took a deep breath and then another, forcing herself to relax and meditate. After running into Jean, she'd retreated further into the woods, coming out only long enough to join the funeral and then retreating again. She wasn't ready as she had thought to deal with crowds of people. Her normal reaction to stressful reactions, she knew, was to do this--run and hide in nature, where no one could find her. Well, except here since this was still Mansion grounds. Tugging her tank top, she winced as her body reminded her that it was still rather sore.

Cain looked up from the stump he was squatting on, still in his suit from the funeral. Thankfully, Charles had a tailor come in on short notice to make the necessary alterations; Cain hadn't worn his custom-designed three-piece in months, since before his accident.

Sighing deeply, he leaned back, feeling the sun on his face, dappled with shadows as the branches of the pine trees waved back and forth. The only sound that could be heard over the wind was the slowly approaching crunch of pine needles. A runner?

Turning around and opening his eyes, Cain recognized Wanda. "Hey!" he called out, waving briskly. "You lost?"

Slowing down, Wanda looked slightly surprised to see Cain out this deep in the woods. Wincing again--slowing down had reminded her, again, that she was still hurt--she approached slowly. "Not quite," she replied, wiping the sweat off her brow. "I am actually about fifteen minutes from where I ended up setting up camp for the weekend."

"I would ask the same of you but I doubt you are lost."

"Camp?" Cain frowned. Ororo had made the weather a bit milder since Youra, but... It then occurred to him that he hadn't seen Wanda around since the mission. "What in the hell you camping out here for? Ain't really the time of year for it."

A grin escaped at that and she swept back the curls from her eyes. "I have faced harsher weather than this, with less comfort," she said simply, turning to lean against a tree so she could face him. "Some people go into the quarry and smash things, others run. I take to the woods to get my head straight."

"Ah," Cain said simply, sitting back down on the stumps and lacing his fingers together. "I used to come out here when I was a kid. Last time... yeah, the last time was when my dad died. I'd just finished boot camp at Paris Island, they sent me home on five days compassionate leave. Missed the funeral and ended up spending too much time in a too-empty house." He turned his eyes down to the dirt and pine needles, scuffing his polished loafers along the forest floor. "Chuck walked out here, trying to find me. But he didn't know his way around, not like I do. So I walked over the ridge there, just kept going until I reached the road, went to a bus stop, back to the Corps, and off to the war." He let out a deep breath and looked past Wanda to the ridgeline that rose above the trees. "Ain't never been to a funeral since. You think age'd make it easier, but it don't."

Wanda nodded and gazed upwards. "I buried my mother not all that long ago," she said softly, after a few minutes of silence. "And you think those wounds are closed up tight. But I was just reminded of it again. It is hard, even when you don't know the people all that well. And we saw what kind of conditions they died under."

Cain nodded in agreement. "I've seen a lot of it, you know. The war and all. But that... we just gotta keep saying we did the right thing, you know? It don't bring back the dead, though." He looked down at his hands, almost as if looking at them for the first time.

"Out there, I lost track of how many times I got shot. One of them shot a rocket at me - a fucking ROCKET!" Cain spat vehemently. "Lost count of how many things should've killed me over there, or through the years. But up until Youra? None of it would've meant a damn thing." He finally looked up, meeting Wanda's eyes. "Them? They meant something."

"Yes, they did. They meant a great deal. I have never been one much for belief but it was hard to not feel it when we were going over there." Carefully, Wanda slide down the tree, leaning on her shoulder to make sure the marks on her back weren't ripped open. "They were so sure and so undaunted that it was hard not to feel it as well."

"Yeah," Cain agreed. "They sure as hell were. Don't see the likes of them all that often. Maybe we ought to." He cracked his knuckles self-consciously before glancing over towards the mansion. "Up until that day out there, I didn't think much of the X-Men. Kids playing grown-up games, you know? But now? Yeah, they know their shit. What's more - they believe it, all of them. Alison, Summers, Ororo, Nate, the fuzzy elf - they've got that kind of conviction. I ... I envy the hell out of that," he said quietly.

Wanda looked up at him sharply, a little surprised. There had been an edgy, anger to their meetings before. Granted, that was before he had his 'accident' but still. "Perhaps you will find it eventually," she mused. "I am not exactly filled wil conviction, either. Confidence, yes, more than enough. Conviction--quite the different animal. All I wanted for the last few years was to live my life normally. When I couldn't, I focused that anger and frustration on proving my father wrong."

Cain laughed at that one. "I know that feeling. Wanting to be normal, knowing it ain't going to happen. Sounds like you've been running from this big bad spectre of your father that's been dogging your steps for a long time. I know that feeling too. Running." Cain stood up, jamming his hands into his pockets. "Figured, it's about time to stop, hey? Quit running, quit hiding, make a stand."

He looked Wanda over, noticing how she was favoring her back, but chose not to say anything about it. "Heard you handled yourself pretty damn well out there. Humans, mutants, no matter. You went out there and saved lives. That proves your bastard of a father wrong right there."

The look she was giving him was, very clearly, baffled. Not only gone where the bittered banter but now the advice and wisdom that made sense? Maybe she did have a concussion. "...I can't believe this but...you're right. Always on the move, never really thinking about it, until I came here. I won't be able to stay forever but...it seems more real than where I was before."

She dropped her head a little bit at the last part. "Again, very true, even though it ended badly for some. No matter for the lives I saved, yes?" Like the woman who had gone with her to take out the escape.

"First time dealing with it?" Cain asked.

A small smile flickered out. "Yes...you could say I spent most of the weekend running away from it."

Stepping over by her, Cain crouched down to Wanda's eye level. "First time for me, wasn't more than an hour in country. There I was, a buck private who hadn't even been issued his rifle yet, and mortar rounds were coming down all around. Puked my guts out when the whole deal was over. The next time, too. Finally, started getting easier - then just got numb to it." He looked in Wanda's eyes for a long while, before just shaking his head. "Don't do that. Don't let yourself get used to it."

For a brief second, Wanda's eyes darkened and then she breathed slowly. "Trust me, I doubt I could get used to it," she said and then paused. "There's a chance I could, probably, but..." Glancing up at him, she gritted her teeth. "I shot a hex bolt full blast down the throat of the person who was attempting to rip out my throat. It caused instant decay and he drowned to death from his own flesh. I highly hope I never become numb to _that_."

Cain didn't wince at Wanda's retelling of her experience. He'd seen it dozens of times, new soldiers confessing their actions. But war was war, he'd told them. This, though? This was something different entirely.

"You got a toughness to you, girl," he finally proclaimed. "Stick with it, it'll save your ass. As for this," he nodded to the woods. "It'll always be here when you need it. And when you're ready, we'll be waiting for you inside. Take as long as you need."

With that, he stood up and began the long walk back to the mansion.