2008-06-22: Share The World

Starring:

Kory_icon.gif FuturePeter_icon.gif

Summary: A day when Kory tries to take the Peter from the future out to enjoy his life rather than mope in the apartment.

Date It Happened: June 22, 2008

Share The World


Bronx Zoo

Kory got Peter up early — well, what she imagines is early — 9:00 am — and asked him what his favourite breakfast in the whole world is — even if it's something he hasn't had since he was a little fellow who would run out to the treehouse in just his jammies. If he had an answer for her, that's what he got for breakfast.

Her brother Anzeti showed up two hours later to be their driver. Because Kory was bankrolling what she declared was going to be a day of unlimited fun. (Not strictly true; Randall had to work, and that limits the fun a little bit).

The Bronx Zoo is their first stop. Even Kory's brother seems to be enjoying himself. Kory, however, is neutrally quiet, letting Peter soak up the environs at his own pace. And if this isn't fun enough — well, then there are other fun activities on the agenda.

The Bronx Zoo has certain memories, while faded now, that Peter can't help but think of when they walk around the Zoo. It's when they get to the Meerkat enclave that he leans against the wall and peaks over, watching them move. "I had a friend who worked in the Zoo here— she moved to an Australian recently. She could talk to animals— had given all the Meerkats special names, based on people that she knew. People that'd been lost. One of them had been named after me."

Certain things, like this, he keeps his voice down on. "It'd been in the other future I saw— the one I went forward to. I stayed here for a while to hide from the government— it was a safe haven in that future. Wasn't quite the same in mine, but… I came here occassionally to listen to the animals." Now he can't… "It's easier to just enjoy watching them when I don't know they're thinking about pooping." For a moment, he's almost smile.

"I …don't doubt," Kory has to agree, raising a brow. "Though sometimes, right around Christmas, I can hear them dream. And that stuff is awesome. They dream about running. And about their babies. And about having enough food that they don't have to hunt. That one night every year? I look forward to it. It's like a reminder that we're not so different — all of us — even the animals." She watches a Meerkat poke its head up and regard Peter curiously. It meeps at him. "I knew somebody who said that sound pretty much means — " she lowers her own voice, grinning sheepishly with a blush, " 'Fuck off'…because really, what would our reaction be if we had somebody staring in our homes and watching us relax, mate, sleep…"

Anzeti is over at one of the concessions stuffing his face to give the pair some room.

"Usually they were startled, yeah," Peter says quietly, still keeping his eyes on the tiny creatures. They're so small, but have so much personality. "You never told me you dreamed with animals before," he adds, glancing over with a new look. "I could occassionally— but I dismissed it as powers crossing. I had always found interesting ways to cross two abilities." Hers could cross pretty well with quite a few— "Yours and Sophie's work well together," he gives an example, before glancing back into the pit.

"Well, it's only one night a year," Kory repeats, sheepishly. "And it's not the sort of thing most people would believe. And you …you've always had other stuff going on. Seemed trivial."

"Yeah, Sophie and me. Benjamin and me. He's joined the list, by the way." But she doesn't dwell on that. She promised him a day of fun, rather than a day dwelling on what they're doing to stop his future coming through. If he insists, though — they'll discuss it, because she's letting him have what he wants, even if it's spoiling him a bit.

"That's fine," Peter simply says, apparently not against the decision as she might have feared. "He's capable of being helpful— he would have been on the list originally if it hadn't been for…" His girlfriend. And all the warnings he knows she'd been given in the past. "I needed to manuever the Company onto our side first." It's not so much a problem. "And admitedly— I didn't expect my mother to approach you on her own. I would've rather you stayed off the Company's radar." Didn't work out that way.

There's a long pause, before he pushes away. "Daphne used to send the big cats around as guards in that future. It was only two years ahead— one now— so I bet the animals that were there are here."

"Me too," Kory agrees, because she remembers current day Peter's warnings. "But what happens happens for a reason, and any one person's fate is less important than the bigger picture. Besides. She's the one who said we must put aside differences. I'll hold her to that if she forgets." She seems confident enough about that. "Tigers and Cheetahs as guards. That must've been impressive." She looks over the directory, pauses to text her brother. "D'you wanna stay at the zoo or go someplace else? Whatever'd be most fun for you. Whatever'd make you smile most."

"Haven't been on a roller coaster in years," Peter admits, though there's hesitation in his voice. For so many years he practically lived like a roller coaster. Flying, running super fast— all those works. "But we can walk around the zoo a little longer. I wouldn't mind seeing how much it hasn't changed," he adds, before smiling just a bit. It's very faint, but it might work, considering. He doesn't even really notice the people staring at his scar as he walks by.

Kory is philosophical. "Yes, but the roller coaster ride is different, you know, when you're not the one at the controls. That's part of the fun… or…or so I'm told." Kory apparently isn't the roller coaster type. "I'm more the gravity house and house of mirrors type, myself." And her identifiable blue hair is hidden under a scarf today, expertly tied so that chaotic mass doesn't peep out — and so her brother doesn't needle her mercilessly about it. "It's good to see you smile, you know."

"I can deal with gravity house," Peter admits, that smile actually increasing a bit. House of mirrors may not be his most favorite, though, from the way he pointedly doesn't bring that idea up. Maybe it reminds him too much of his bad dreams. Or the idea of mazes without knowing for sure the way out bothers him. "I've actually not been good at being out of control," he adds, looking back at her. "It never has led to good things, but— I think this is different." It's for fun. He doesn't have any abilities that might hurt someone. What could go wrong? He could kick a shoe off and hurt someone— but that's about it.

A quarter could fall out of his pocket and bean the kid running the roller coaster. O NOES! But Kory wouldn't think of such a thing, let alone mention it if she did think of it. "Cool. And the log flume. That's my fave." Which might explain why she's got a windbreaker on over her tank top. "And yes. This is different. It's just — y'know, destressing." Because if anybody needs destressing it is Peter Petrelli of the 24th and a half century future four years out.

"De-stressing instead of distressing," Peter actually makes a soft joke under his breath, before he reaches out and touches her upper arm. "Thanks," he adds, before he starts to move to look at the next group of animals. The giant tortoises. On the bright side, it doesn't appear to be mating time for them, or they'd have to listen to the "dinosaur" like sounds that they make.

Kory picks that up, because she's perceptive like that, and because she has an obnoxious kid brother she has to stay aware of, even though he's made himself scarce at the moment. "Exactly," Kory agrees, tilting her head at Peter and blushing a little as he thanks her. "Hey, that's what friends are for." Destressing and also distracting. Because this way he's not home brooding and moping and sulking and continuing to fret and worry about where his powers went and whether they'll come back. Kory's already got a plan to go visit Sasha in a few days if they don't come on back on their own, but that's a chancy prospect at best, so best not to mention it.

"It's funny. Everybody thinks turtles are shy and gentle," she muses, rather than share her thoughts. "Those guys could bite your finger off without thinking about it." She leans on the railing to watch them make their lazy way through the water. "Shame sometimes that we're so eager to take up every inch of the earth we aren't willing to share with the other creatures."

"We're barely willing to share it with ourselves," Peter says without the same kind of gentle irony that his younger self might have. There's something a little harsh in it, even, as he watches them take one sloooooow step at a time. They could be watching them all day. It's like watching people in slowed time, really. "Once we learn to share it with everyone else, I think we'll be able to learn to share it with what we can't communicate with normally." Or he'd hope so.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License