Innocence Measured Out In Years [Peter]

[Deleted]

child-like, no one understands

N

o one would ever tell from a glance how strongly Ivan disliked this job. No, it was a wonderful job when the sun provided Archadia and other branches of Russian cities the warm break they deserve - but here winter was approaching and Ivan knew its brutality. Perhaps he knew better than any other in the city.

Being an outside guard had both its advantages and disadvantages, as would any a situation in winter. The winter guard outfit he was given to wear was not as warm and homely as the selection of coats he had in his closet. When your skin is stiff and colored pink from each lick of frigid air, it's tougher to move with the same fluidity you would have with warm blood. If there was snow on the ground, at least Ivan had a keen ear for hearing people sneak out when they weren't supposed to - their crunching on white blankets never went unheard.

The temperature would only drop as evening stretched into night, but thankfully, on this day, Ivan was not caught in the very midst of winter. His breath released in wisps of vapor, visible to no one else but himself. There usually would not be anyone at his aid if he were to freeze, so he learned to cope with doing guard duty by his lonesome. Sometimes he even wished a student would misbehave so that he would have someone to interact with. But at least he did not have to stay in one spot all the time. He patrolled to keep his legs moving, listening as fallen leaves and an overnight snowfall crunched under his weight. Whenever there was snow there on the ground, he would find himself crouching down and brushing a gloved finger against its surface to draw. They were thoughtless little doodles that had no significance other than they looked more appealing to him than boot prints.

Today seemed to be one of those luckier days where the exterior of the school was not barren. He was quick to act whenever he heard voices or footsteps from someone else nearby, even if it meant just a chance to do some people watching. Staring at anyone who passed by him often earned him strange looks, but he never found that a signal to stop. The noises he heard were coming from a ways behind him, where the playground was apart from the training grounds. Once he turned, he couldn't help but observe the gathering of children there, those that were too young for most other activities on school grounds. It was a marvel to him that they could so thoroughly enjoy themselves on a cold day, free from confinement and without duties they currently had to care about.

Ivan never showed strong care for children, but they were still people he enjoyed to see happy. Unfortunately it would be silly of him to grow too absorbed in the playground - he knew by now that distractions were likely to earn him reprimands (but that didn't always stop him from being distracted). His head turned away, passing a quick glance over to the entrance doors before that gaze lowered. Out of idle habit, he grabbed his scarf to pull it higher up over his face. His cheeks and nose were probably red as tomatoes.

Word Count: 552
Tags: Peter Kirkland
Notes: 

by worldie for jen

[Deleted]

669

Tags: Ivan

Peter was bored. It was rather easy to tell that by the way that he rocked back and forth on his feet. This day was boring. He had classes that he was already good at this year, and though he liked them, that was boring. The only exciting thing they had done all day was let him go play with at heir fish tank, and even then he had been doing some of the same old things he had been doing for a long time! Bored, bored, bored! Therefore, he was rather relieved when it was finally time to go outside for some time. He was old enough that he'd never admit he liked doing it, but running around outside was still fun. He could try throwing something around with one of his friends! He'd just have to be careful- some of his friends are really strong, and it kinda hurt if he missed the catch.

Upon getting outside, though, Peter got distracted. It was cold, and he had a winter coat covering his small form. His hat was perched on his head, as it always was. That wasn't why he was distracted, though the cold made him more easily distracted as the small part of his brain that all people posses that nags them when their too hot or cold was set off. Luckily, it wasn't as ridiculously cold as it could be. Peter had seen it get really, really cold. How cold really cold was, he couldn't quite say, as it wasn't as though he read the thermometer while playing in the snow.

What really distracted Peter was that man. Peter blinked. Thx new guard was standing near the playground, his hands holding his scarf against his face. Peter had always wondered why they needed guards, and his teachers had always said it was to protect them. He therefore tried to be nice to them, not throw snowballs like some kids did. That was mean, and it shouldn't be done, as he had explained multiple times. The guard hadn't done anything. This guard looked lonely. He was standing all by himself in the cold! He watched the new guard somewhat before looking up at the little kids on the playground. Peter was thirteen and certainly too old to really be on the playground much (or so he thought to himself), but that didn't mean he couldn't admire how fun it looked! Er, he meant, not that fun,because he wasn't a little kid anymore! Yeah!

Anyway, he was convinced that the guard needed company. Normally they travelled in pairs, but this guard was all alone, and Peter knew as a complete fact that being alone was terrifying. His feet pushing against the snow made a slight crunching noise as last year's winter boots made contact with the ground. He hadn't told anyone that they were too small yet. He'd have to get around to that! As he walked closet, he noticed little doodles on the ground. Peter thought that was pretty cool. Grown-ups doodled too? Maybe it was like how Peter tended to scribble with markers all over everything when he was alone because otherwise he couldn't stand it? Maybe the doodles were keeping the guard company? Peter couldn't stand that long there without someone else, after all. He'd run off somewhere, because otherwise he'd get left behind, and that couldn't happen.

He certainly didn't want to see the guard get left behind, and if they stood together, Peter reasoned in his childish way, then obviously neither of them were left behind because they were both near each other, and therefore Peter could safely move away from his friends for a few minutes! Thus decided, he walked up to the guard before loudly and quickly proclaiming "Hi! I'm Peter! What's your name, Mister? Are you lonely? I like your drawings!"

Notes: Also, I feel like this post is awkward, but I don't know why. Sorry.

made by MISSO on IoF

[Deleted]

jack knife in your sweaty hands

H

e had a keen eye for detecting peripheral movement, as well as hearing footsteps in the snow that either approached closer or promenaded away from him. Those crunching steps that he now heard seemed to be made by light weight, arriving with so sudden a voice that Ivan barely had time to see the young boy leave the other children. Violet eyes went wider, bearing surprise which spilled down over the folds of his scarf and landed on the child before him. He couldn't recall whether he's spoken to this particular student before - and given how rarely he was given such a chance, he could only doubt it. This must be a face he's seen several times only to forget later on; just as he would with any mutant students who weren't frequent troublemakers. 

This on its own was such a strange occurrence - perhaps more odd and unexpected than strange, though something he couldn't help but appreciate. He didn't often find the time to communicate with those who might dwell around the outer walls of Weeds, unless he'd want to be caught neglecting his post. The most interaction he would ever receive was strange looks from other children or from those who enjoyed antagonizing the guards and willing themselves a day of trouble. He mostly remembered the faces of those who liked to misbehave or landed themselves in even worse trouble - such as trying to escape school grounds. That was one reason why Ivan liked having the night shift. 

He'd barely had time to adjust to Peter's presence before he was bombarded with questions. The boy's voice, albeit quick enough that he almost missed everything he had just been asked, was a nice tone to hear. It was different from all the harsh older voices Ivan would often perceive, and it held a peculiar although familiar accent. 

The rest of Ivan's face became slowly revealed as he peeled the fold of his scarf back down. The warm air that had been briefly contained escaped him at once, though he didn't mind for now. There was a smile in place of that pink fabric as he set to responding to Peter's exuberance. "Hello, little Peter... my name is Ivan."

His hands reluctantly fell away from his scarf to hang by his side again, fingers curling to make sure they were still mobile. The term lonely struck him, as cold to him as it always was. He knew the boy probably did not mean it as heavily as it sounded, though Ivan never liked to be associated with something like that. He never wished to let people know that the job usually was terribly lonely and so was he, but sometimes he couldn't help but let it slip out. "It seems you haff caught me at a lonely time, da. It is not always like this, though."

The Russian's attention turned quickly to view the various drawings he had made in the powdered snow. There was a trace of pride (and most likely youth) in him to know that they had been acknowledged.

"Thank you for likink them," he said, laughing lightly under his breath. It had felt like a while since he'd spoken so freely with someone like this. "Too bat they are goink to disappear soon. They are fon while they last though, da?" The thought of those drawings being his company never dawned on him. At least he never did expect to see them again, be it by means of newly fallen snow or someone else coming to brush them away.

He looked back down toward the smaller blond, on the brink of forgetting the duty at hand. Having new company like this was much nicer than paying attention to work. He was then reminded of the other children nearby, a curious gaze cast aside in their direction. "Were you gettink boret with everyone else there..?"

Word Count: 647
Tags: Peter Kirkland
Notes: 

by worldie for jen

[Deleted]

693

Tags: Ivan

In the style of young children everywhere, Peter huffed and puffed out his chest after Ivan introduced himself. ”Hey!” he said, ”I’m not little! I’m a perfectly normal size- everyone says so! I’m thirteen, I’ll have you know! That makes me a teenager!” Really, though, whenever Peter thought about that he felt a little lightheaded, because teenagers were almost grown-ups, and he certainly didn’t feel ready to be a grown-up yet. He didn’t understand how grown-ups did it, really! How did they go all dozy without playing or coloring or any of that? Maybe they had their own way of playing? He was only calling himself a teenager to make Ivan think him big instead of little. He didn’t feel at all like one.

”But really, nice to meet you, Ivan sir!” he then quickly said, only then remembering his very important manners. He was supposed to say it was nice to meet them, supposed to call them sir, and supposed to keep in mind that grown-ups (especially the human kind) were older than him and needed respect. That was another thing that must be hard about being a grown-up: how did they go around being all respectful all the time and not get terribly bored? He just didn’t understand it one bit! He was quite glad that he was only thirteen, and also a bit glad that he would still have someone to take care of him when he wasn’t a kid anymore. The world would be scary if he was out in it on his own. Maybe that was why grown-ups needed respect? Because they braved a lonely world on their own?

He then quieted down his mind to listen to Ivan. He had to, because not listening would be mean and disrespectful, and he knew what it was like not being listened to: annoying and frustrating! He didn’t want to do that to someone who could be a friend! He nodded emphatically as he said that it was only a lonely time, quite glad that the poor man wasn’t alone ALL the time. That would be sad! That would be something that would make anyone sad, right? And since it was a lonely time, when Peter got there he had made it less lonely for Ivan. That was happy! And then Ivan’s lonely time wouldn’t be lonely and that would be a good thing.

He looked back down at the drawings. The snow wouldn’t let them be very colorful. Markers would just bleed out and become useless, so Peter couldn’t use them even if he tried. The color would get all messy and the marker would turn white and no longer be colorful. However, he could imagine a little color in them, and that made him smile. ”You’re welcome, Mister Ivan sir! he chirped. Then he thought for a moment before saying ”They won’t really go away! Y’see, we’ll remember them, right? And if we remember them then they’re not really gone! They’d be somewhere, just not in the snow!” It was like how he remembered his brother (who he had only really been sort of told about) and knew in his heart that he wasn’t gone away, so he wasn’t. That made sense.

At Ivan’s last question he paused. ”No, not really,” he said truthfully, ”but I’ve always loved meeting new people, you see! I like talking to new people and learning new things and making friends, and you see, most of the time the guards are all in groups, right? They like groups of two for some reason, because two is stronger than one, I think. But you were all by yourself, right? So therefore you had to be a little lonely, and I didn’t recognize you, so I thought I could meet a new person and make someone less lonely!” He nodded.

”So? Are you new? Because if you’re new then I’m glad I talked to you so you wouldn’t be new anymore!”

Notes: Ah, Peter sure talks a lot when given the chance...

made by MISSO on IoF

[Deleted]

some kind of innocence is measured out in years

"H

ey!" Peter began in protest, making Ivan blink. He hadn't expected that he said anything wrong. In fact, he almost didn't notice that that term slipped from his lips -- almost as if it had become a habit by now. He didn't mean it to be insulting, but only to express that he found Peter small and rather adorable in that respect. Even if the boy truly was a teenager, Ivan was taller than most people no matter their age and that meant that everyone was little to him.

"Sorry," he said in hasty response, although he didn't actually feel regret. It was only a small matter, and Ivan's happiness was instantly boosted to hear that Peter had called him 'sir'. No matter who it was coming from and how many times he heard it, it made him absolutely giddy to be coined with that title -- even more so to realize that Peter seemed to be a very well-mannered mutant so far. Thankfully, on top of that, Ivan had nothing to scold the young boy for as of yet. He managed to slip his next words in with a smile, owing his own respect in return to the mutant's. "It is nice to meet you too. I woult not know if you were normal sise because I do not know many children your age. You shoult know that I am not normal sise, though. You are little because I am jost so tall, da?" Not that he minded his own height. It brought more advantages than disadvantages, in most cases.

Their conversing was doing well enough to distract Ivan from the loneliness that had previously been brought up. It was one downside of his job, but at least it allowed him to focus more -- so long as his mind wasn't wandering elsewhere. He shouldn't have been so distracted by Peter, but he knew he wasn't going to turn down the boy's company now. His cheeriness was enough to brighten Ivan as well, so he didn't want to let go of that.

When Peter's attention returned to his snowy doodles, so did Ivan's. Having not even come close to the idea of adding markers or any other coloring utensils to them, he considered the optimistic words that the boy suggested. It did make partial sense, but seeing things physically in front of him rather than imaginatively in his mind always sounded better to Ivan. "Da, we will... bot they were not that important that we shoult worry about them. I can draw thinks like that anywhere. I jost got a little boret too, bot you shoult not tell anyone that~"

That speech he received in response to his final question was more excessive than he expected. Ivan went quiet, his expression wondrous to hear Peter talk so much -- enough that he couldn't help looking around to see if anyone else was around to hear. He was definitely getting far too distracted from what he was supposed to be doing, but those words were just so similar to everything Ivan always believed. It wasn't likely that any guard would agree with what a boisterous young mutant had to say.

"Goot, that is a wonderful quality for you to haff," he murmured, feeling another smile tug at the corners of his mouth. "I know how nice it is to want to learn thinks ant make new frients, too." The commentary about guards working in pairs struck him a bit. Why didn't he always have that? "Two is a lot stronker than one. I coult go fint the other guarts if I wantet, we are not always that far separatet -- bot it is best I stay in my spot, I think. Though thank you for beink considerate, I do like your company."

He paused, feeling his cheeks heat with a content glow. He was almost wishing he could have been youthful like this again. "I haff been here for several months, if you consider that new. I never thought off it that way. I am so uset to it that it feels I belonk here now. By the way, you are allowt to make your own drawinks next to mine, if you want -- onless you woult like to return to the others."

Word Count: 707
Tags: Peter Kirkland
Notes: 

by worldie for jen

[Deleted]

912

Tags: @jen

Peter looked up at Ivan and couldn’t help but agree- even some grown-ups might be small compared to Ivan. ”It’s alright, then,” he said in a voice that he thought sounded somewhat affirmative and important but in reality simply sounded like an exactly what he was- a thirteen-year-old who, like all thirteen-year-olds, doesn’t know half of what he thinks he does. He couldn’t help but wonder how Ivan had gotten so tall. Was there any way he could get tall like that? That would be super cool! He would be taller than his friends and things, and being tall would mean that he would be… well, he wasn’t quite certain, but he was certain that being tall was a good thing.

He liked Ivan, really. So far, despite being all tall and big and things, despite being one of the guards that walked around the school, he seemed very nice. He was a little bit like a big panda or something, except not a panda because Ivan clearly didn’t come from China. Either way, he wasn’t like some of the few guards Peter didn’t like. Those guards sneered at him and yelled at him and generally weren’t very nice if he tried to make conversation. He always found that odd. Why wouldn’t they be polite? Didn’t they go to a school and learn to be nice to other people and act nice to other people and other important things like that? He knew that he wasn’t on the same level as the guards (no mutant was), but he really didn’t understand why that meant they would be so mean.

Ivan didn’t seem to be like that, though, and this made Peter quite happy. He looked back down at the drawings. ”I draw things everywhere too, but I normally use markers,” he said matter-of-factly. ”Markers don’t work well in the snow, though, because all of the color just bleeds out and becomes watery and they stop working very well at all.” He didn’t tell Ivan that he had a tendency to draw on things he wasn’t supposed to, though. He didn’t want him to be upset or anything. It wasn’t entirely Peter’s fault that no one understood that plain white things were boring!

He did giggle a little when Ivan admitted he was bored, though. That was funny to think about. Grown-ups must get bored too. That was good, because when Peter became a grown-up he didn’t think that he could do some of those things without getting bored, but he didn’t want to be weird if no one else got bored and he was just the only one who didn’t. That would mean that he had changed and had changed a lot, perhaps even forgetting how to have fun properly. He didn’t ever want to forget that, because even when he got sold and had a family and wasn’t supposed to have fun unless he was told he could, he wanted to be able to find a way to have fun by himself.

That wasn’t wrong, was it?

Then he listened a little. Ivan was complimenting him, and it made him glow. He supposed it was a good quality, right? Some people thought it was annoying, but communicating, making friends, from what he had heard that was important for him to do- it wasn’t just that it was fun. When he got bought by somebody, he had to make friends with them. What was the point if he didn’t? Why would you want a companion you weren’t friends with? He smiled. ”You’re welcome, Ivan Sir.” He paused for a moment. ”It was really no problem- I like meeting new people!”

Peter realized suddenly that he somehow hadn’t seen this guard in the past few months. That was odd, then. Didn’t he normally see the guards by then? Perhaps this one had mostly been outside, or perhaps Ivan had been guarding younger or older students. That must have been it, actually- Ivan had been guarding in other places, places that Peter didn’t normally arrive at. He didn’t seem like one of the guards that would pointedly avoid contact with the students, after all. It might be distracting, but it wasn’t very nice. Wouldn’t they want to know the people they were guarding?

Then he paused. ”Oh- is that really okay?” He might not be able to color drawings in the snow, but it would be fun, and it would give him a reason to stay here a little bit longer, just until he saw someone he knew walk by a little closer again and he could talk his way back inside or up the hill or wherever they were going. It wasn’t exactly that he minded walking on his own; it was more that he was afraid he’d walk in the wrong direction and wind up somewhere no one stood at all. He sat down to draw.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone to find out that he was drawing fish, and that these fish were surprisingly accurate for drawn-in-the-snow drawings. He once again wished markers worked better in the snow- fish didn’t look right, he thought, without color. He looked up at Ivan. ”Uh… These don’t look right in the snow, so think of them with color, sir!” He smiled as he looked down at them. There were a few mutants he knew of that resented their powers. Peter didn’t. Fish were cool and the colorful ones weren’t girly no matter what anyone said.

Notes: I actually tagged it properly this time! *nods*

made by MISSO on IoF

[Deleted]

you don't know what it's like to listen to your fears

L

ooking down at Peter was enough to remind Ivan of his own height. Ever since hitting that stage of his life which decided that he would be, out of the blue, abnormally taller than all of his family and probably everyone he had and will ever meet, he had gradually gotten used to it. People often marveled over it. Ivan supposed that's what Peter had been doing, too. Some other people even looked frustrated about it. Ivan always supposed that was because they were craning their necks so much and possibly they got sore. Sometimes he would realize that they were indeed frustrated that such a growth spurt had never happened to them. That was when Ivan would like to use it to his advantage. He was usually smug about his height and didn't think of it as a burden.

His weight was a different story, but that didn't matter right at the moment. Peter looked like someone he might accidentally break if he ever tried to handle. That was one reason to feel relieved that he was behaving so well. But towering above him like this, or so it felt, dawned a strange realization over Ivan. He was used to seeing other adults that were shorter than him, so having to look down at an angle wasn't the problem... He just couldn't remember the last time he'd spoken to a child around that age. He had several years of experience with Natalya when they were younger, but he could only hope he still knew how to talk to such young people. Peter seemed happy enough, so Ivan could affirm that he was accomplishing something.

Their drawings would serve as a relaxing agent of sorts. The idea of using markers came to mind now, in which he was trying to remember the last time he had ever used one of them. He used colored pencils once before, he was sure of that. Paint was another tool he'd use, if not any piece of charcoal or rock he would find lying around. He hadn't been disappointed that his drawings in the snow lacked color, though there was no denying he probably would have tried if there were markers in sight. At least he always had a good imagination accompanying him, too.

He held another pleased smile at the way Peter continued addressing him. When the boy asked for confirmation that his drawing would be tolerated, Ivan nodded.

"I can see you are an eager ant social little boy," he remarked, stepping aside to watch as Peter prepared to draw. "I hope you will keep those qualities as you grow older. You still haff a while to go here at the school, bot I bet you will do fine."

Ivan's arms positioned themselves behind his back, hands clasping together at the lower lumbar. His attention was invested on the movement of Peter's small fingers, but he found himself thinking a few years ahead - when Peter was old enough to leave Weeds, how well would he fare in the Underground? An optimistic young person like that almost reminded Ivan of himself, when he was little. He had his restrictions but he still always tried to make the best of life. 

He hardly knew Peter so far, but he could hope already that he wouldn't lose himself down in those cold Underground cells.

When Peter made eye contact with him again, Ivan blinked out of those thoughts. When Peter's progress caught the Russian's eyes, he was impressed by the fishes' details. Ivan was tempted to kneel down beside him, but he kept himself upright. Tall and composed, so that he continued to look like a proper security guard. "They do not look right in the snow," he agreed with a shake of his head, "bot you can think off them differently, too. Maybe they are a type off snow fish."

Making vivid images in his mind wouldn't prove difficult. He could easily imagine scales that twinkled with color; small, slippery bodies that wriggled their way through bodies of water. Or, in this case, snow. Or perhaps they could be trapped in water under a vast bed of ice over a lake, too. That was most fitting in these temperatures. "Those do look nice, though. They can fit in somehow with my flowers over there."

He looked up again, at nobody else in particular, and thought. "Is there anythink else you like to do here? I bet you haff figuret out what your ability is by now."

Word Count: 752
Tags: Peter Kirkland
Notes: 

by worldie for jen

[Deleted]

678

Tags: @jen

Peter took it as a compliment when Ivan called him, and he quotes, "an eager ant little social boy". That was a good thing, as far as he could tell, because that meant that he liked talking and generally was a friendly person. Ivan had phrased it a little oddly, though. He hadn't heard it referred to in a manner like that before. It had always been called 'clingy' or 'talkative' or 'extroverted' (that was a long word) or 'loud' by most people, so it was fun to hear it thought of in a different way than before. "Thank you, sir!" he responded, smiling. He hoped he would continue to do well at school, and if a grown-up and a guard thought he would do well, that had to be right!

He smiled down at the snow and back up at Ivan, before beaming once more. "Snow fish? A kind of fish that likes the cold? That would be kind of cool! I know more fish that like the warm, 'cause I like the tropical ones more. They listen better." He thought for a moment. "Snow fish... They'd blend in well if they were white like that, but I still think they'd be cooler if they stood out in lots and lots of colors!"

Looking down, he thought of the fish he had seen from time to time. At some point, he wanted to visit a real big aquarium somewhere. He'd never been to a real one, filled with reefs and rare fish and colors and water everywhere, but he really wanted to see one. Peter also really wanted to visit the ocean. The ocean was beautiful, he was sure. Something about all of that water filled with all of those fish, moving always, always making noise, so big that it must be real, something about it gave him a feeling of a massive power, and he wanted to see that beyond his imagination some day. It would be awesome.

And then he found himself smiling again. He liked Ivan. He seemed nice. He kept on complimenting Peter, and he kept on talking. Both of those things made Ivan seem quite wonderful in Peter's eyes. "Thank you, Ivan Sir! I guess they could go with the flowers, huh? They're both bright and colorful!" If he thought about it, fish were sort of like flowers sometimes too. Both were used as decoration, colorful presences to bring life to an empty place. Both, too, had their colors sometimes as a warning, as the most colorful could be the most dangerous from time to time. They were also the prettiest, though, and that was what mattered to him!

Oh, and Ivan was asking questions again, caring some about him again. Peter smiled in return once more, though that was perhaps redundant- he was smiling entirely at the moment anyway. "Oh! Yeah! I know what my power is!" he said, looking awful proud of himself. "I can control fish! It works better when they're small and colorful but I can do it, and I'm getting better, and it's super cool! 'Cept, I'm not sure how useful it'll be... But I'm sure I can do something with it!"

Peter personally thought that his power was very cool, but it was true that he had yet to think up a useful thing from it. He learned a little about fighting, but he hadn't learned much yet, and he needed control over bigger or less colorful fish too to do much damage. Unless whoever he got sold to liked to fish, he didn't know what his power would do to help them, either. It didn't really matter, though. He'd just work extra hard to try his best to do well, and that was the fact of that with nothing left to say.

"I like a lot of things. I really like learning about my power though. That might be my favorite! Oh, and making friends, and making people happy, and drawing! Those are all fun to do! Do you have favorite things to do?"

Notes: I took too long. Bad Peanut-Sheep-Ghost-thing.

made by MISSO on IoF

[Deleted]

you can talk to me

E

ach expression of thanks from Peter was received with a quiet nod from Ivan, letting him know through otherwise wordless responses that he kept note of each one. That and the ever present addition of 'sir'. It pleased him to make a mutant so content, even if this one was younger than he was used to - and not to mention, Peter did not seem to be faking his gratitude. His eagerness so far to continue talking to the Russian was taken as a sign of genuineness, and that the boy didn't seem to hold resent toward humans thus far. Even if that might be subject to change by the time he made it out of the school, Ivan preferred to enjoy things as they were right now.

"Snow fish? A kind of fish that likes the cold?" Having listened to the rest of what Peter had to say about that, and while he and Peter both were looking down at the drawn lines in the snow, Ivan realized that their imaginations were close to on the same track. Peter's sprung more vividly than his own did, he would imagine - but it was still nice to be able to share this quality with someone else. Discussing things other than, well, serious adult matters in Archadia of all places. 

"Da, I was only thinkink off a fish mate off snow," he commented softly. "Like snowman. It woult not haff choice bot to like the colt if it is not wantink to melt away." So maybe snow fish and snow flowers weren't the most optimistic of ideas, but Ivan was already well aware that the cold tended to ruin things like that. 

Peter's turn to address his power, pridefully worded as it was, recaptured Ivan's interest. Of course, he should have pieced together that Peter's affinity for fish must have linked with any aquatic sort of ability. Now he could see why such attentive thought was put into Peter's drawings and how easily he could picture them springing with unlikely color and liveliness. "Do you mean little fish like what you keep in small aquarioms? Or ones that you coult catch from river~?" From what he knew, freshwater fish generally weren't as colorful as those bought in pet stores or, even better, found in the ocean. "I bet you will fint more use as you grow older ant practice. Controllink somthink like piranha or blowfish might scare people away, ant that woult not be very goot."

Making friends, making people happy, and drawing. Those all sounded like things Ivan would have said when he was younger... and well, it wouldn't be different now, either. The shift in subject was distracting his attention away from the snow that they were previously focused on, but he didn't mind at all. "I really like those thinks, too. I want to make frients, especially happy ones. You haff a lot off people to play with arount here, bot I am at home alone - so the thinks I do by myself are usually readink, knittink, carink for my sonflowers to keep them alife."

He took a breath and watched as it dispersed through the cool air. "I go to the Ondergrount a lot to see other mutants like you, except they are moch older. There are a lot off interestink powers there. Since your power is linkt to fish, which you really loff, I wonder if my power woult haff to do with flowers." Although it was rare that he ever imagined himself as a mutant, he couldn't help smirking at that particular idea. Maybe then his dream garden would thrive.

Word Count: 603
Tags: @peanut
Notes: 

by worldie for jen