Never knew what it was about this old Coffee Shop.

[Erik Noire]

Jaece’s Coffee Shop it was a local favorite with their in house ground beans and fair trade agreement. There was a small town feel to the place; a large brick fireplace in the middle of the store, overstuffed chairs around, free wifi and a coffee bar with competent barista’s. None of this really mattered much to Erik though. The chairs were nice enough he had occupied them for hours on numerous occasions. The fireplace was warm and the wifi was always full bars; it was a nice place to study and an even nicer place to just claim you were studying but in reality slack off and joke with friends.

Unfortunately, Erik wasn’t there for any of that though. He was sitting at one of the high café tables on a bar stool watching the highly caffeinated Jaece, the owner of the coffee shop, across from him look over his application. Jaece’s foot was on the rung of the table bouncing up and down in either a nervous habit or a strung out addiction tick. Erik had the feeling it was the latter of the two since the man also had bloodshot eyes and was continually fidgeting with the application since it wouldn’t stop bouncing in time with his foot. The man in front of him seemed to finally get too annoyed with the moving words and just put down the application altogether. He cleared his throat and started to speak again trying to focus his glassy eyes on Erik,

“What do you think you could bring to the team here at Jaece’s?” What could he bring to the team? A million people from his school to sit in the chairs all night and razz him about working would probably be the most honest answer. Not something that would most likely get him this job though. He needed a better excuse. The man in front of him started to tap a tobacco stained finger on the table. Erik didn’t need his twin’s ability to read people to know that wasn’t a good sign.

He threw on a winning smile, the one that worked for most of his teachers and the administrative personnel at his school and answered as chipper as possible. “I’m dedicated, willing to learn new things, and I’m very good at wiping tables and taking out garbage.”

Erik flashed him another brilliant smile when the man nodded and grinned a bit back at the trash and wiping tables statement. That’s what the teen had figured he’d be doing the majority of the time anyways. Why not go for the kill right now? Erik started again with a knowing grin and a wink.

“Plus I’m on the football team. I’m sure the guys and cheerleaders will be here plenty just to give me a hard time.” The proprietor laughed a bit but ultimately seceded and grinned holding out his hand which Erik took with a smile and shook back.

“You got the job kid. You start tonight. Come follow me to the back and we’ll get you set up with an apron, hat and shirt. The uniform consists of those three and black slacks with black socks and shoes. You’re going to want a no slip grip shoe; the floors get very slippery in the back.” Eric followed the man to the storage room where he took the uniform components and nodded. There wasn’t much to say to that. Advice was advice no matter what and when it came from your new employer it was always best to listen. “You can just put on the apron and hat for now and get to wiping down those tables and cleaning up the place.”

Erik nodded, put on the two parts of the uniform and went back out front grabbing a wet towel from behind the bar and started wiping down the tables and chairs. Did he need the money? No. He could get whatever he needed from his parents with little more than a couple choice words seeing as he was the only son they chose to acknowledge now.

What he needed was something to keep him occupied when there was no football practice after school. He hated being alone in the room that he used to share, listening to his little sister all cheerful and bubbly on the telephone. His parents discussing the daily events at work; the perfect semblance of normality at the dinner table….and yet all the family pictures have a space missing where Draven used to be. Their once shared room contained only half the furniture it used to have and Erik swore it was so empty that it echoed when he talked. He needed to keep busy and away from his oh so stepford family. Besides a job was good for college applications… right?

[dionysus]

So this is what he'd been reduced to? Stalking? After the "excitement" that happened the last time he'd shown up at school - the day that he'd met Kari and taken him to Xavier's for safety purposes - he hadn't managed to pull himself back to the school. He had, however, managed to locate the schedule for the school's football team. There was a game coming up, and he was highly considering going. He'd have to be incognito, of course. Maybe he could borrow Kurt's special watch...

After the attack on the mansion, Draven didn't feel at ease as he once did there. He found himself more often than not becoming anxious, awaiting another attack on the school, and more often than not he had to escape the school to get any kind of relief. Today was one of those days, and he'd spent most of it driving. As an attempt to cheer him up, Leiko had lent him the freshly rebuilt Mustang she'd been keeping hidden in the garage where she worked part time after school. The old car maneuvered easily enough, but it brought back memories of the days when he had a family.

His father had a mustang, one that was maybe a year older, in silver. Draven had learned to drive in it, along with Erik. A faint smile had played on his lips while he'd gazed at the car, recalling their first joy ride, while heartache that never seemed to go away pulled at the inside of him.

He'd driven to New York City that night, staying from dusk til dawn, and then back. Since then he'd been driving aimlessly, not sure where to go. Multiple empty cans of Full Throttle were scattered across the passenger floorboards, another can clutched in one hand. Surprisingly, the boy didn't have the jitters, nor was he bouncing off the interior of the car from a caffeine and sugar induced hyperactivity disorder. No, Draven was as calm as he could possibly be. The soft piano and guitar beats pulsed through the car, his iPod hooked into the stereo and playing My December by Linkin Park. It was one of his favorite songs, and that moment it really seemed to suit his mood.

And why wouldn't it? It was December, and Christmas was around the corner. It would be his first Christmas without his family, without his twin, he realized. Softly he bit down on his lower lip and nibbled on it. Inwardly he debated sending gifts and cards to them, but something told him that they would get trashed or returned to the mansion with the words "return to sender; address unknown" pasted upon them. He wouldn't put it past his mother to use a line from an old Elvis Presley song to get her point across that he just wasn't wanted.

He hadn't even realized that he'd pulled into the parking lot of Jaece's Coffee Shop until he'd turned the engine off. His subconscious had navigated him there, and it was only after he'd turned the car off that he even bothered looking at the building. The corners of his mouth twitched for a brief moment; the old hang out. How often had he'd gone to get coffee from the place? Or hot peppermint tea? Tea sounded good, plus a bathroom. Too many Full Throttles could have that effect on a person. So, without thinking about it any further, or even looking at the cars in the parking lot, he pushed the door open and winced at the squeak. Grabbing Leiko's hat from the seat, he slid out of the car while making a mental note to tell her to fix that squeaking hinge and pulled it onto his head.

He hadn't even bothered to go through his beautification process to the full extent he usually did. Faint, subtle hints of eyeliner and a single coating of black eyeshadow adorned his eyes while his hair hung straight to his shoulders in a black cascade. The final item to his disguise were a pair of silver aviators he kept on him while he was driving. He strode across the parking lot and, with a deep breath, pulled open the door. The jingle bells signaled that someone had walked into the shop, and he made his way to the front counter.

"Venti peppermint tea with a honey stick," he said quietly, then paid for the item. Seconds later, steaming hot cup in hand with a tea bag steeping within, he made his way over to the table closest to the back, then sank into the seat. Head bowed, he closed his eyes and inhaled the stress relieving minty aroma and sighed. "The hell am I doing here?" he muttered to himself.

Words: 791
Tag(s): Erik
Notes: None
Credits: Mel!

[Erik Noire]

The green apron’s cloth that hooked around the back of his neck itched severely. His cornrows barely fit underneath the matching green hat which shaded his eyes in a bad light causing his face to have an overcast look. Very unflattering. Not that the green apron and matching green cap could put anybody into that great of a light in the first place. It just shaded Erik in a particularly bad light. A familiar voice called from the front of the store and he glanced up from his wiping duties to see Carly, a cheerleader, with his teammate, Lloyd picking up coffee’s. He waved and smiled, a fake smile full of fake cheer, but they weren’t used to anything else and took it as happiness and walked along their merry way. Probably off to catch dinner and a movie, or a walk in the park to see the lights.

Erik reflected that he ought to mention it to Lloyd that they should take the girls out on a double date. After all he was going out with Carly’s best friend Renee, the head cheerleader. They’d been together ever since his brother had left and Erik got his school life back in order. It was easy to date the head cheerleader once you were on the football team than it was otherwise. Plus as an added bonus it cemented him into the schools social structure. Who cares if the girls incessant yapping gave him the chills and the very thought of her sent waves of nausea ripping through him. Actually he was having that feeling right now. It didn’t matter. His image was safe and no one even associated him with his freak of a brother anymore. Well not in front of him or the team or the cheerleaders anyways. And really... in his school… Who else mattered?

Renee was going to screech his ear off the next time she caught him alone though. She still hadn’t had her chance to rail on him about his miscreant, mutant brother being caught at school and tainting his and by association her pure white image for all to see. He’d have to do a lot of nodding and yupping for her to be satisfied. He’d probably lose his hearing for a whole month after she was done. She was worth it though. The prize piece for his image and his one way ticket to superstardom in the school. It didn’t help her as much but he had a feeling she only used him to get back at her old boyfriend. They didn’t do anything other than use each other to get one thing or another; it was a relationship for show only. He couldn’t stand even looking at her, how could he possibly do anything else?

The next voice he heard was much closer… and far….far… to familiar for comfort. It was a murmur if even a sound at all but he was used to the voice too much to not be able to decipher the words.

“I’ll take Stalking for 800 Alex.” Erik sneered at his twin with disdain clear in his eyes and in his feelings it was complete disgust that flowed in waves off of him. “It’s not enough that you ruined a perfectly good school day by showing up. Now you have to ruin my working hours by hanging around like the freak you are as well?”

Erik swiped the towel across the table haphazardly, spilling the crumbs across his twins lap without a care, just to make a show of doing his job as he glared down at the seated figure. “Why don’t you just do everyone a big favor and disappear back into to the hole you crawled back out of?”

He didn’t want to make a big scene, not on his first day on the job, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t and then take whatever repercussions were handed to him, it would be worth it. He needed to make it clear that Draven wasn’t welcome here or anywhere else in town. Erik had carefully constructed his new life and it was a precariously balanced tower of cards he stood upon. His brother wasn’t allowed to just waltz back in and tip it all over now. Erik wouldn’t allow it. He gritted his teeth and hissed. “No one wants or needs you around. No one cares. You’re just going to get yourself killed and then mom and dad will have to foot the bill for some mutant’s funeral causing more unneeded attention on our genetics.”

He made a disgusted sound and shook his head before turning to move back towards the front of the store. “I’ll give you a break, even though you’ve had more than enough, get outta here before Jaece comes back and we won’t have any trouble. I’ll act like I never saw you. Just like it should be.” Somewhere beneath the anger, and disgust, and betrayal, and guilt, he missed his brother and the closeness that they had shared. He couldn’t just throw that away. Even now. Which is why he gave him this chance. Erik saw it as being merciful and caring. Of course... his view on the action was slightly warped by the fact that he was so hateful anyways.

[dionysus]

Draven's eyes lifted as he heard Erik's voice. Leave it to him to hone in on where he sat despite trying to be incognito. Inside of his chest, his heart pounded while at the same time breaking. The look in his eyes.. The coldness of his voice.. The disgust that flowed from him.. That was something he'd never thought would come from his twin. "I am not a freak,[/color]" Draven said, carefully choosing his words, "I am simply the byproduct of an extra gene in my DNA. Which, by the way, comes from our father. Did you know that only the paternal side passes on the mutation gene?[/color]" Okay, so there was a coldness to Draven's voice that not even he knew could exist, but if Erik was going to play the cold game..

He didn't even flinch at the flinging of crumbs from the table. No, instead, he simply brushed them off of his lap. Thankfully his eyes were concealed by the dark aviators, otherwise one would be able to see the pain that lurked within the chocolate brown orbs. They'd shared their mother's womb for nine months together, the same room for seventeen. Through the good times and the bad times they'd stuck by each other. Now, though.. Now his own twin seemed to loathe the very site of him. He reached out and plucked the coffee from the table before him, certain that it would be the next thing Erik would "accidentally" spill on him, then took a long sip.

Peppermint.. It had always soothed him, though this time it wasn't. It was through careful control that he kept his emotions locked within his own body, careful control that he didn't unleash his power through the entire café. "Here's a question for you, dear twin,[/color]" he started, "why don't you crawl out of the black hole that you seem to have let consume you?[/color]" He copied Erik, returning the same sneer. "Also, I'm not stalking you. I simply came in for this,[/color]" he hissed back, lifting the hot paper cup. "And if no one cares, then why bother talking to me? Why bother making this little scene? Why not just fucking ignore me?[/color]"

He flicked his gaze over to the cheerleader and football player that stood at the front of the shop, waiting on their order while watching the scene unfold. It was clear that they were whispering to each other, and he didn't even need to see their faces to know what they were thinking. A surge of spite flowed through his body, despite the terrible hurt that was threatening to take control. He stood up, holding the coffee in his hand, and moved closer to Erik. At that moment, Draven wanted nothing more than to make Erik feel the same hurt that he felt, to make him regret the words he was saying.

Unfortunately, that wasn't Draven's style, and the empathy didn't work on him. "Tell me, Erik,[/color]" Draven purred, "Are you enjoying being the only son? Enjoying being the star of the school?[/color]" He moved close enough so that he could whisper into his ear, his eyes focused behind the shades on two of the school's elite. "Are you enjoying being the fake I know you are?[/color]" He turned his head as he lowered his shades just enough to reveal his eyes, which bore in to Erik's profile. For a moment, he allowed himself to get lost in the feelings of the café. After all, it was easy when there were only maybe six people there. And, after all, hate and anger were powerful emotions. Anger flashed in them, anger he was picking up from the two at the counter. Erik wanted to play the little game of "I hate you, go and die" did he? Draven could just as easily play that game. "I know you better than you know yourself, and you know that's true. I know you better than they ever will. And that, my dear brother, is exactly why I know you'll be discovered for the fake you are, and you'll fall. Hard.[/color]"

"This is a free country, Erik. I can roam where I like when I please,[/color]" he said finally, his voice raising ever so slightly. With ease he gulped down the scalding hot liquid and tossed the cup over his shoulder, a smirk on his face. "You might want to pick that up, too. You know... The mutant's trash. And you can run to dear mother and father, tell them what your mean, freak of a brother did in front of your friends,[/color]" he said, venom dripping from his voice as he air quoted the last word. "They can't touch me. Once they threw me out, I became emancipated. I don't need their help. You, however.. You'll always be relying upon them.[/color]"

And, as if to rub salt in the wounds he was surly creating, he pulled his hat and aviators off, then boldly waved to the two at the front. "I'm going to laugh when Magneto crushes them like bugs. So very hard. Hell, I might even do a little jig and sing at their funerals. That is, if there is anything left of them.[/color]" It was clear that by this point Draven was letting the anger take over, and he popped his neck, tilting his head side to side before looking back to Erik. "Maybe I'll show up for your next game. Hell, maybe I'll bring a few friends. There's this nice boy at school with scales on his face who has never been to a live game. And then there's the girl who can shape shift, and the guy who can produce a set of claws that can cut through humans like butter. Oh! And let's not forget, of course, the teacher who looks like a fuzzy blue demon elf.[/color]"

He grinned, and slipped an arm around Erik. "Oh, dear brother.. You know how much I've missed you. Maybe I'll even press charges on the school and transfer back,[/color]" he said loudly. Yes, he was bluffing. Yes, he was taking it too far. And, yes, he was drunk on the hate and anger, but beneath the anger, the hurt that he felt, the one true emotion he had at that point, could be seen within his eyes as he looked pointedly at Erik.

Words: 1,058
Tag(s): Erik
Notes: Holy hell, I think that's the most I've ever written for a post...
Credits: Mel!

[Erik Noire]

Erik made a derisive noise at the mutant’s description of so-called genetic truths. “It doesn’t matter what you freaks tell yourselves to make your existence more bearable. All true humans know the truth. You’re all freaks, slithering into pregnant human women and turning their innocent human babies into freaks as well. The mutants are an entire race of disgusting vermin who can only propagate like a parasitic virus. Eating their hosts slowly from the inside out until they’ve completely devoured them and then they try and take over their hosts lives to subterfuge the governments control and the mutant’s extermination.”

The gesture of the crumbs was brushed aside casually. It was childish really but then again Erik was always the childish sort. Anything to poke and get a reaction out of others and of course the cup would have been the next to go. That would have been just Erik’s style but the mutant already knew that having slept inside Draven for so long and known everything that Draven knew about his brother. It was unfortunate it didn’t pan out but in the end it was just another childish gesture anyways.

“Don’t you dare DEAR TWIN me you doppelganger! You’re not my twin! We’re not even related! Something tainted MY mother’s womb. Whatever you are now ate my real twin and took his place. You might look like Draven and maybe at one point the thing that you are now and Draven co-existed together and gained his memories and maybe even something similar to emotions. Then this new mutant took him over completely. You’re an anomaly... a freak and a monster.” He couldn’t believe the thing in front of him was really his own twin. His own mind shied away from truly believing that. Years of training about the truth of mutants wouldn’t allow it either. His twin was dead. His childhood friend, his brother, his confidante was killed from the inside out as this thing in front of him grew and ate him and took him over.

“If you would stop showing up I could ignore you but you just have to keep showing up and making it impossible to ‘fuckin’ ignore you’ as you so eloquently put it.”

Erik snorted at the purring and took a step back when Draven got up to move closer to him. “What are you going on about? Have you gone dense as well now? I was always the only son. You were never really their son, just a placeholder for some mutant. They refuse even the acknowledgement that my true brother ever existed because of you. You are the fake. You’ve always been it.”

“No. Draven knew me. You’re nothing to me. Another mutant. Another one succumbed to the virus. You look like him. But that is it. That is where the similarities end. Draven was my brother. Draven was my twin. Draven is dead though. My twin, my brother is dead. You are a mutant who took over his body. You are not him.” Hi eyes were hard as stone, his jaw set and his voice whispering harshly as he told himself and the doppelganger of his brother the same thing he had repeated to himself over and over again as truth. It was the truth to him as much as it was the truth to his family. There was no more Draven just a mutant who had taken him over.

Erik listened to the mutant talk. And throw the cup. He wouldn’t pick it up. It might contain the virus… just another vehicle of transportation for the mutants to take over the race. They’d need a containment squad to come in here. Poor Jaece would have to close the shop. Erik would probably be fired after this one should he have mentioned he was so closely related to one of the mutants? The brown eyes flicked up when the mutant started to talk about his parents and family and crushing them like bugs.

“See…. Even though you took him over... and have his memories to work with… you’re not him. You’re nothing like him. Draven could have never been cruel… could have never talked about humans being crushed and having nothing left and my Draven would have never wished for me to fail at anything. Never, we protected each other always. But he is dead and you are a poor replicate.”

He saw the arm coming… snaking out like a tentacle from the thing that so looked like his brother… but wasn’t and this display had just proved it. He wouldn’t be touched by the thing that had taken over his twins form. He twisted his body taking a quick step back away from the imagined tentacle that carried the mutant virus. It was a little late of a gesture though and in a burst of panic and adrenaline Erik took a gulp of air and held his breath as the right half of his torso dissipated for the short second that allowed the few fingers of the mutant that was close to him to pass right through him. The form reappeared just as quick when the gesture ended and Erik breathed a sigh of relief as his eyes flashed darkly from his newfound perspective. Erik believed he had avoided the touch just in the nick of time. No one else would have been close enough to see what had truly happened but the two brothers. And one refused to even see what had truly happened.

“Don’t dear me you bastard and don’t you dare try and touch me so I can transport your virus back to my family. Have you forgotten yourself mutant? It’s not a free country for your kind the free country only applies to true humans. The cops will be here with a mutant extermination crew soon. This whole place will be sprayed for the virus and everyone here will be examined for signs. We’ll be put under a 24-hour hold for the signs of the virus. To make sure we’re not going to turn into freaks as well.”

[dionysus]

Virus? That's what the government was telling the human population? Mutants were a virus? The very notion made Draven laugh, and laugh he did. So much so that he doubled over, clutching his sides. "Oh that's rich. We're a virus now? Wow. That's definitely a new one. Here's an interesting little fact for you, Erik.. That "cure" that was out last year? The one that was supposed to "fix" us? It came from a mutant.[/color]" He quirked an eyebrow, amusement playing on his features as he gazed at his twin.

Anger still ran rampant within his body, though. There was far too much anger and hatred in the room. It was eating at him like a parasitic virus. He pulled himself up straight, looking Erik straight in the eyes. "A doppelganger? Is that what mother and father told you I am? A virus ridden doppelganger? I'm far from a doppelganger, Erik. What you're seeing before you? I'm the real Draven. But you? No, you're the one that's acting like an evil doppelganger. You have been since that day at school when the entire school turned against me. You're stronger than I am, more agile, and yet.. You didn't hold me back.[/color]" His voice cracked, anger fading into sorrow fading back into anger. Emotions racked his body, and he couldn't figure out how to calm himself again.

This was the way it usually was with empaths from what he could gather. How long would it be before he went mad, he wondered? How long before he completely lost himself within the emotions of others? Maybe Erik was right, maybe he was a doppelganger. At that moment, the real Draven was locked within his own body by all the emotions he could feel. Finally his body settled on one. Once again the anger flared and he straightened his back, his usually gentle features harsh, his mouth and eyes cruel. He sneered at him and looked him over with disdain. "Is that how you protect your brother? By letting him get the crap beat out of him by the ones you call your friends?[/color]"

And then, for a brief moment, the anger flickered and faded from his eyes. His features turned sad as the internal wounds became visible for Erik to see. It was a slight change, his body and posture were still rigid from the anger within the café, but it would be enough for the twin to see. "Erik.. I don't like seeing you pretending to be who you are not. This charade you're carrying on... It's.. It's not natural. It's not you. Do you know how much it killed me when you didn't even fight for me with our parents? No, not our parents,[/color]" he added sadly, his voice cracking from the pain. Tears swam in his eyes, threatening to streak his face with the black makeup he so frequently wore. "Your parents.. Your, Sara and Aries' parents.[/color]"

"You're the one who helped me figure out who I am.. What I am.. These feelings, they're.. They're not mine![/color]" He grabbed his head with his hands, palms digging into his temples as he closed his eyes tightly. "I can't not absorb them. So much anger.. So much hatred.[/color]" And, just like that, the real Draven was locked back within his own body, the pain buried beneath an avalanche of the powerful emotions once more. "You betrayed me as much as Sara did. At least Aries tried to fight for me![/color]" he hissed. Aries.. Their oldest sister. All she'd ever done was try to protect them from the cruelty of the world. She was far more of a mother to him than their real parents were. "But you.. You just sat there as they threw me out of the house, as they threw everything of mine out of our room. No twin sits by idly as that happens. If anyone's a doppelganger, it's you![/color]"

He breathed heavily as he stared at Erik, a single tear streaking down the side of his face and angrily he brushed it aside. He wouldn't cry in front of him. He wouldn't give his twin the dubious pleasure of making him cry. Erik knew exactly which buttons to push to hurt him, and he was doing just that. He'd been doing it all along, and Draven had failed to see it. Until now, that is. However, perhaps this line of thinking wasn't Draven, but the overloaded empath that was having difficulties filtering out the emotions.

As his fingers reached Erik's shoulder, he fell into a stunned silence. The slender digits passed right through the form of his twin. He knew that wasn't him, he, Draven, couldn't pass through objects like Kitty. So, if he didn't do it.. The anger faded, replaced by surprise. "Erik.. You just,[/color]" he stuttered. A realization came to him then that maybe, just maybe, Erik wasn't simply disgusted by what Draven was, but by what he himself was? And then, just like that, the real Draven came out again. The feelings of anger passed, replaced by the surprise and confusion of the current situation. He tilted his head, confusion playing on his face, and he reached out to poke at Erik's shoulder a couple times.

"Are you a hologram?[/color]" he asked and blinked. Yes, he was dead serious with the question, too. Hell, at that moment, he was even ignoring the next outburst from Erik, more caught up in the fact that his fingers had just gone through Erik rather than touching him moments ago. He looked up, looking for the lights that usually came with a 3D hologram. "Wow.. Technology's really advanced within the last year. I don't even see the lights that are being used to create you! That's so cool![/color]"

Words: 960
Tag(s): Erik
Notes: None
Credits: Mel!

[Erik Noire]

This fight had been coming a long time. He knew that. He knew he’d have to face the mutant that stood before him in his twin’s form. What he hadn’t known had been exactly when. So he avoided it as much as possible. He had even gone so far as to avoid thinking about it. He changed himself to avoid the painful thoughts. Threw himself into school, social gatherings and football. Anything to keep his mind off it. It had finally come though, and his avoidance made him unprepared for the actual event. He wasn’t ready to face this mirror image of Draven. The sinking feeling in his stomach made him sure that he’d probably never be ready for it. He’d rather Draven be dead and buried then have this thing walking around… talking like him… acting like him… This was a far worse fate for all involved.

“I would have never let him stand alone! I didn’t help because I knew Draven was already gone! He was already taken over by a mutant…” Erik grit his teeth his fingers balling up into fists at his side. The fingernails biting into his palm gave him the second’s respite he needed; the flash of the immediate pain to calm him. This was worse. Far worse than he had ever imagined. Even his nightmares which mostly featured Draven turning into some tentacle monster didn’t compare to this. At least a tentacle monster wouldn’t look like him. Wouldn’t make him feel so guilty. Telling him everything he already knew. “.... I saw him changing. I knew what was happening. We both did. So I tried to hide it. It worked for awhile. And I did everything I could. Everything. I couldn’t stop it in the end though… I tried… I did try. He wasn’t Draven anymore. The one in the mob. That was a mutant. Not Draven. I would have been there if it was him.”

The hurt there on what seemed like his brother was hard to take. He couldn’t break though, not right now; he wouldn’t give this creature the satisfaction of it. He stood firm and glared still; even with the pain written plain there on the all too familiar features. His whole being urged him to wash that pain away… to remind his brother of something funny… to distract him with a goofy song… or laugh at him for taking something so seriously that it would cause wrinkles to his precious skin. He swallowed gulping; he wouldn’t comfort the thing in front of him. It wasn’t his brother who was in pain. It was a mutant and mutants didn’t need comforting. They had no emotions of their own. They only mimicked human emotions to infect others.

“You don’t have a say in who I am or what I act like, mutant. Everyone knew my twin turned into a mutant. They were all just waiting for me to join him! All of them whispering in the hallways; pointing, laughing, and gangs of them waiting for me around every dark corner. I was alone all the time then and they knew it. Sure… I’m better at fighting than Draven was…. But no one is good enough when there is so many. At home was worse. They stared too. Waiting... watching… I swear at times they’d hope I’d do something mutant like just so they could stop the anticipation. They put locks on all the doors, bars on the windows, and their own door was always locked from the inside. Locking their children in at night and themselves out. Draven was the lucky one.” He licked his lips and relaxed his fingers to his sides wiping the sweat that had pooled into his palms on his pants. Erik gave a soft sigh and shook his head his tongue between his molars as he tried to keep it together. It was getting harder. Anger was easier. Anger is what he needed right now but all he had was this regret. A pitiful emotion.

“Aries…. She was gone almost the same night that Draven was. She was staying at the house trying to reason with them about taking the mutant back in. They put the locks up in a single night and Aries was gone the next morning. They called a special government program on her, a rehab of sorts for mutant sympathizers. Took her away in the night and her room’s been emptied too. Sara… is Sara… nothing bothers her. This is all normal.”

His teeth clenched again as the anger spiked back up. He wasn’t wrong here. If that was so why did he feel so mistaken? So guilty still? “By the time the furniture was moved it wasn’t Draven anyways. I’ve done what I had to do. It’s not a charade… at least not anymore. This is me now. This is Erik. And I don’t have to vindicate my actions to anyone. Least of all some mutant.”

He easily slid backwards away from the poking, jabbing finger. If he wasn't going to let him put his arm around him then her certainly wasn't going to let him poke him with teh same finger. “Quit trying to touch me freak!”

The odd question about the hologram that seemed to Erik to come out of the blue caught him off guard. It was one of those instances when he was completely overwrought by the twisting of his emotions so much in such a short amount of time. In light of these twisting emotions and the odd question Erik gave himself over to an unwarranted bout of real laughter at the look of wonderment and confusion on the figure before him. In between the laughter he asked smiling and chuckling still, “Random much? This is a coffee shop not some space station beaming us up to the mothership. Really Draven, what is with you and the randomness?”

He regretted it the moment it left his lips, but it had seemed so natural at the time. The laughter had done it to him. The ease of their former relationship had taken him over for that short time of laughter and he had completely forgotten himself. Erik gave a hiss as he brought in a quick breath in between his teeth at his own slip-up and a siren started to sound up the road from the coffee shop.

[dionysus]

His heart seemed to shatter more as he heard Erik's recount of what happened. Aries was hauled off.. All because she defended him. He knew their parents were cruel enough to throw their mutant son out onto the streets, but to hear that they'd sent her off to a "rehab" for her words.. He closed his eyes and bowed his head, his arms wrapping around himself in the process. Guilt. He felt guilt at that moment. Maybe he should have taken the damn cure when it was being offered.. Even if the effects were only temporary. It would have been better for everyone.

He could have gotten a clean bill of health from the government.. He could have gone home. His twin wouldn't look at him like he was just what he proclaimed.. A freak. A doppelganger. He fought back the tears that burned beneath his eyelids and tried to force himself to straighten his posture. It was no use, though. And the pain only enhanced as his twin yelled at him to stop trying to touch him. 'I won't cry. It will do no good. I won't cry,' he thought to himself over and over and swallowed hard, as if it would help suck the tears back into their ducts.

And then Erik laughed. Oh, God, how he missed hearing that laugh.

A pout played on Draven's face as his twin outright laughed at the question of the hologram. He poked his index fingers together, the light playing on the black polish that covered his nails, and his lower lip sticking out ever so slightly. "You always laugh when I ask a serious question..[/color]" He had to admit, though.. It felt good to hear his twin laugh. However, the amusement that once came so naturally to the pair faded as Erik hissed. He went to open his mouth to say something, but his head whipped to the side.

Sirens.

A wave of terror washed over him, and he looked to Erik. "You.. You called the government and cops?[/color]" he asked, "How could you? You don't know what they're doing to us! I.. I have to go![/color]" Throwing Erik a pained look, he fished his pocket for the keys and hurled himself at the door of the café, shoving it open, and retreated to the parking lot. Keys in hand, he jumped into the loaner car and turned the engine on, then pulled up to the front of the building. For a moment he paused there, looking through the glass at his twin brother. And during that brief moment, he wondered if Erik would come with him. With a shake of his head, he slammed his foot on the gas pedal and peeled out of the parking lot.

All that remained as evidence of Draven being there were two items. The discarded coffee cup, and a photo near the front door.

Words: 481
Tag(s): Erik
Notes: Couldn't think of anything else to do right off the top of my head. We can either end the thread, or figure out what to do next. <3
Credits: Mel!

[Erik Noire]

You always laugh whenever I ask a serious question.. The pouting lower lip, the steepled index fingers with the black polish and such a simple statement but all of the little gestures that went with it nearly tore Erik apart. Such identical movements and little tells that always gave Draven away. It was almost impossible to tell this mutant from his brother, and if he was having trouble then it would downright impossible for anyone else to ever tell. It was heartbreaking to know that it wasn’t really his brother there… looking so pained.

The sirens got ever closer and the mutant shot him a look that was terrified and angry all at the same time. He hadn’t called the cops but there were others in the café and their little display at most points had been loud enough for others to overhear. Lloyd and Carly certainly knew enough about Draven after the school incident last year to call the mutant squads out. The mutant left in a hurry the engine turning over just as the cruiser turned the corner and the car peeled out of the parking lot. Erik let out the breath he hadn’t even known he’d been holding once the car turned around the corner in the opposite direction and the brake lights disappeared from sight. Had he wanted the mutant to escape? He couldn’t say for certain even to himself at this point. It wasn’t his brother… but he wasn’t just any mutant off the street either.

The mutant squad rushed through the door with the usual zeal of those who are entrusted with the safety of others. They wasted no time hurrying everyone left in the place out the door and into the backs of their trucks. On the way out the wind from the open door caught hold of something on the ground near the frame and flipped the picture upright. Erik stooped to pick it up in an idle fashion to not cause unwarranted attention to the action and tucked it safely away in his pocket as he was roughly pushed towards the door and told to move along.

The ride was long and the questioning brutal but the squad had found nothing but the empty cup to go on and the testimonies of the individuals in the café. Everyone stated the same thing that there had been a fight between a known mutant and an employee but there had been no contact between the two or any of the human’s with the mutant. The café was closed to be sprayed for the virus and the humans in the café were examined and put on a protective custody hold for 24 hours.

His parent’s who were suspicious of their now only son from the start were even more wary now. Erik hadn’t had a chance to properly look at the picture he had only glanced in the cafe until two days after the incident. Locked from the outside into his room at home that he used to share with his brother the picture was something that even now in this solitary confinement made him laugh loudly. He didn’t remember what had made Draven smile so much or even what occasion it had been. They were always laughing together... it had never taken much to be happy at that time. It seemed ages ago now to Erik, though it really couldn’t have been more than a year and a few months. He tucked the photo away for safekeeping in his pocket. His parents searched his room frequently for anything to condemn him and a photo of his brother would certainly turn them against him. It was the only photo that remained of Draven anywhere that Erik knew of and he intended to keep it safe.