Times may change and so do we. ~open~

[Bobby Drake]

Bob blinks in surprise at Kitty’s hysterical response. What, huh? She’s falling apart and wants to keep it a secret? Which, when he puts it that way, he can actually rather empathize with.

"OK, OK… no worries. Not calling anybody. See?" He hangs up the phone and puts it away in his pocket again, setting it on vibrate just in case anybody calls back… he doesn’t want to spook her further.

> " I just need someone familiar to talk to me. "

"Um… right. OK… no worries. Just talking… sure…" He slides, as casually as he can manage, against the far end of the couch, figuring her intangibility won’t freak her out so much if she doesn’t try to touch him again.

Absurdly, now that he’s looking for innocuous things to talk about, he finds his mind going blank, and the silence stretches out awkwardly. Finally he breaks it with the first thing that comes out of his mouth: "So, um, did I mention that I’m on the Cure now?"

Yeah, he thinks, wincing. Way to bring the conversation to a calm, boring state, Drake. Maybe next you can talk about how the Brotherhood invaded Alcatraz again, or something innocuous like that.

[Kitty Pryde]

Kitty was shocked by his statement. Of course no one could tell since she was invisible. this brought her mind off her problem and focusing onto him. "Oh my god Bobby. How did that happen. I assume it wasn't consensual. I mean you seemed to like your powers." This was helping a bit now. She was worried about him and what he had been going through.

Relaxing a bit and moving closer to him, though again he couldn't tell she wanted to reach out to him and did. Yes she was still invisible but this time she didn't phase through his arm. Instead she layed her invisible hand on his arm feeing the heat from it for the first time.

"Wow, your body temperature is normal. You have always seemed a bit cooler than most when I've touched you. How long has this been happening?" Immediately her mind starting to fly around ways to reverse the cure. She knew that it could be done and if there was a way to reactivate the mutant gene then he could be brought back to normal quicker.

Yes she did think of the mutant gene active as normal. Years of having her abilities has shown her that she was meant to have the gene and for it to be active. She was very intelligent and knew if she put her mind to it she could figure it out.

As she sat there thinking and talking to Bobby, her distraction began to help her become visible and after a few minutes she was totally back her hand still on his arm. She smiled at him though she didn't realize he could see her yet.

[Bobby Drake]

> " Oh my god Bobby. How did that happen. I assume it wasn't consensual. I mean you seemed to like your powers. "

Well, at least it calmed her down, sorta. That’s something. It was still pretty weird talking to someone he couldn’t see, but hardly the weirdest thing ever. Actually, it was a pretty useful trick – especially in conjunction with her phasing – if she could manage to get it under control.

"No, not consensual. Just… complicated. I was stupid enough to let the Brotherhood nail me." In more ways than one, he thinks, rubbing his still-sore shoulder. "Still, it ought to be temporary, right? John, Magneto, Marie, Professor Coleman… they all recovered. I probably will too." He tries to sound more confident than he actually is.

He startles a bit when he feels Kitty’s hand on his arm.

> " Wow, your body temperature is normal. You have always seemed a bit cooler than most when I've touched you. How long has this been happening "

Bob shrugs, a bit defensively. "Yeah… it’s taking getting used to. At least I get to wear some of the jackets I brought with me, back when I was a freshman, right?" His voice is noticeably strained, trying to make light of the situation despite his own agitation. "Anyway, it hasn’t been that long… a couple of weeks. Since the second Alcatraz attack… you might’ve caught that on the news? "

(( OOC: Actually, I'm not sure when this is supposed to be happening, but I assume it's before Dec 1? ))

[Kitty Pryde]

Kitty nodded as he spoke. She had heard about the second attack and wondered what all had happened, "Yeah I heard about that. It wasn't that long ago really. And I'm sure it will wear off. I mean like you said it did for all the others. But now that you got me thinking on it, it's going to bug me for awhile. You know how my mind works. I have to figure out these kind of problems. Heck, I'm already started to think of ways to reverse it." Kitty said with a laugh.

Relaxing had done the trick and now that the focus was on him and what she was thinking she was totally solid again and smiling at him. She had missed so much about him when she had taken off. He was one of her good friends and now she realized that she needed those friends more than anything.

"See what you've started. Now I'm going to wrack my brain until I figure this out. Not a bad thing though, it gets my mind off of other things and lets me focus on helping you out." Things were looking up for Kitty now and she finally realized she was solid once more. "See I'm solid again. Talking seems to help me calm down." She hugged him happy to have a friend close.

[Bobby Drake]

> " You know how my mind works. I have to figure out these kind of problems. Heck, I'm already started to think of ways to reverse it."

Bob’s a little surprised by the comment – he hadn’t realized mutant biochemistry was one of Kitty’s specialties – but is pleased to see her getting a hold of herself again.

> " See I'm solid again. Talking seems to help me calm down."

He returns the hug enthusiastically. "That’s great! I guess maybe it’s just a new power, then? I mean, I don’t know how it was for you, but a lot of people have trouble controlling their powers when they first manifest… I sure did. So maybe you just need to practice, or something?"

[Kitty Pryde]

"Something like that. I mean you would think that with the first one being still screwy that having a second one manifest would just drive me crazy. Well I guess it almost did." Kitty said with a laugh. The problems with her powers made her self conscious and with the new one making her disappear at random times she didn't know how she would get them both under control.

"Well I guess I'll be able to control them both with enough practice. its just a bit unnerving either phasing through things or disappearing in the middle of the conversation. Its a bit annoying." She admitted as they talked. "But I think your problem is just as important as mine. I'm sure that someone will come up with something, even if its not me."

[Bobby Drake]

> " I mean you would think that with the first one being still screwy that having a second one manifest would just drive me crazy."

"Well, maybe it’s the other way around… maybe it’s the emerging new power that’s screwing up your control of the old one? I don’t know," Bob shrugs, finishing his sandwich, "but either way I guess it can’t hurt to get that invisibility thing under control. And I guess we should count our blessings you don’t fall through the floor when you phase."

He winces a little, thinking Wow, I probably shouldn’t have said that. Hope she doesn’t freak out again. Hastily, to distract her, he adds "Hey, so how come you can still see while you’re invisible? Shouldn’t light, like, I dunno, just pass right through your retinas or something?"

[Kitty Pryde]

When bobby mentioned falling through the floor when she phased she couldn't help but laugh. "Actually when I first started to phase I use to phase through the floor all the time accidentally. And it was a bit annoying, especially when I could get stuck almost all the way through." That was something she rarely told anyone. She had a lot of trouble when her powers first emerged.

At the mention of her sight when invisible made her think for a minute. "I'm not sure what I can see normally when I become invisible. It really doesn't effect my sight. I mean I see everything the same way as I usually do. And the best thing about it is I can use both powers at the same time."[/color]

[Bobby Drake]

> " it was a bit annoying, especially when I could get stuck almost all the way through."

Bob shudders at the image. "Good thing you didn’t hurt yourself…" Of course, he knows it isn’t as bad as it sounds – he’s seen Kitty leave people partway into solid objects before, with no permanent damage – but he still can’t help imagining it as a catastrophic event… bones splintering, flesh disintegrating, blood everywhere.

He wonders, idly, whether the harmless solidification is an aspect of her mutant ability, or whether he has the physics wrong… no doubt Hank knows. He grins at the notion of bringing the subject up, if she really does distort normal physics to do that… Bob hasn’t gotten a good McCoy lecture on his corruption of thermodynamics in months, and he rather misses it.

"I was always terrified, when my power started manifesting, that someday I’d accidentally encase myself in an iceberg and suffocate or crush myself. It actually happened, once – that was scary. I freaked out completely, actually, total spaz-job. Thought that was it, you know? Game over. Stupid way to die, don’t you think? “Local Mutant Killed By Self-Generated Iceberg.”" He laughs, a little more brittle than usual, remembering. In retrospect, it is almost funny, though it sure hadn’t seemed that way at the time.

"It turned out I just went into deep-freeze, like Walt Disney or Buck Rogers or whatever… came out of it after my little iceberg had melted. Spent weeks after that trying to “unfreeze” ice so it wouldn’t happen again, but seems like my powers don’t work that way – I mean, didn’t."

He frowns, then shakes his head – he’s really done enough moping about his power-loss for one month, and the odds are they’ll come back. "Don’t," he adds, more firmly.

> " the best thing about it is I can use both powers at the same time "

Bob nods, grateful for the change of subject. "Yeah, that’s pretty cool… you’re like the best sneak-thief ever, I guess. Pity you weren’t around earlier; you could’ve probably gotten into Magneto’s HQ and pulled me out of there before anybody even knew you were there."

[Kitty Pryde]

Kitty laughed a bit at his story. "I use to get stuck when i went through the floor all the time. Like once I got halfway through and went solid again leaving the floor right across my stomach. And no matter how hard I tried I couldn't phase the rest of the way. I was stuck hanging between floors for like three hours until I could finally phase the rest of the way." Talking about power horror stories was helping a bit.

"The worst is when I go invisible then go to walk through a wall and forget I have to phase. I ran into a wall once and yelled. Scared the crap out of a family that was close by." She had to laugh at that one herself. The family ended up running away certain that someone was after them.

At the mention of his kidnapping she felt a bit bad. "Sorry about that. I guess my timing for leaving was a bit off. Maybe if I was here and not scared to tell anyone about the new power I could have rescued you before you lost your powers."

[Bobby Drake]

Bob chuckles at the image of Kitty forgetting to phase while trying to run through a wall. "Wow… yeah, that’s gotta hurt. Good thing you don’t fly, I guess… jumping out a window and forgetting to use your power could be pretty bad in that case. Or, I dunno, jumping into a firefight without turning your forcefield on… or… um…" he trails off, running out of Powers Not to Forget to Use.

"Hell, I suppose in a few decades we’ll start seeing senile old mutants doing stuff like that… nursing homes will become pretty interesting, don’t you think? My great-uncle was kinda like that for a few years before he died… not a mutant, I mean, but senile. Which was sad, of course, but – well, it sounds awful to say this, but I have to admit it was also kinda funny sometimes." He shakes his head, wondering how he got on such a morbid digression.

> " Maybe if I was here and not scared to tell anyone about the new power I could have rescued you before you lost your powers."

Bob shrugs. "Well, it all happened pretty quickly… it’s not likely you could have prevented it, unless you’d taken to eavesdropping on my dates." He blinks, suddenly realizing something he hadn’t previously put together, and adds "Which, come to think of it, apparently Josh was. Heh. Whod’ve thought? Anyway, like I said, it happened pretty fast – by the time I knew anything was going on, I’d already been dosed. And to be honest, I think Toni enjoyed getting to go all out on those clone-guys… which is pretty creepy, in and of itself."