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He turned at the unfamiliar voice, saw who was there, and offered a slight smile. "Hello." She had to resist the urge to teleport. "H-Hi," she murmured, feet shuffling. Oh yes, this had definitely been a bad idea. "Um... I'm Talia." Stupid, stupid, stupid. "It is very nice to meet you, Talia", he said gently. "And I think probably you know who I am?" Dad. "Kurt," she said very quietly. "I'm... I'm sorry, I know this is really freaking weird." "A little", he admitted. "But this is not the first time such a thing has happened here, if not to me. You do not need to apologise." "Sorry. Wait, no. I - argh!" She threw her hands up, groaning, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. She came back a moment later, hair ruffled as if anxious hands had been run through it. "Okay. I'm back. That's better." Kurt blinked at her, then smiled. "Well, I see one thing you inherited from me already." She giggled slightly, shoulders hunching up. Same warm smile. She hadn't realized how much she had missed it. "Yeah, drove everyone nuts when it first, ya know," she snapped her fingers, "because I refused to walk anywhere, but eventually they all decided getting your powers was better than getting Mom's." He tilted his head. "And what powers would those have been?" "Um... chaos." Talia rubbed the back of her neck. "My mom is... was... Wanda Maximoff." That got a look of wide-eyed startlement. "...I cannot say I was expecting that, although there was a time..." And then the 'was' sunk in, and his expression turned solemn. "I see." Her own smile faded into something a little sadder. "Yeah. It's... she's..." The girl sighed, shoulders slumping; she walked to the wall and slid down it, staring at the floor. "I don't... know what I'm supposed to do. After this. Mom and Dad are gone. Aunt Amanda's gone. Aunt Lorna was still alive when we left, Uncle Pietro... I don't even remember the last time I saw him, or if he knows anything happened, or..." The words all came out at once, things she had been clearly letting build up. It wasn't particularly fair to put it off on a version of her father who wasn't her father, but the presence was familiar. Comfortable. He walked over and sat down beside her, not quite touching but there for her. "Do you know how you will get home? After this?" She smiled humorlessly. "Yeah, we've got a TARDIS. It's a six-year-old boy with a fondness for cheese. Aunt Amanda did... something, gave him something and instructions for this world's Amanda to open the portal back home without... well, you guys have a lot more magic here than she did alone." "We do", he agreed. "And, I suppose, when you go back... the obvious thing might be to go to your Aunt Lorna or find your Uncle Pietro." Talia nodded. "There's a lot to do. A lot of things to fix. It'd be nice to have them to help. And they probably know what to do better than any of us, they're..." Adults. Real adults. Not whatever she was pretending to be. She shook her head, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Sorry. I'm thinking too far ahead." "Perhaps a little", Kurt said with a small smile. "But try to remember, however much needs to be fixed, it is not only on you to do it." That got him a smile in return. "You sound like my dad." A beat of silence, and then she dropped her forehead against her knees and groaned. "Wow. Brilliant." “Not so stupid as that”, he said immediately. “After all, though I may look and speak like him, and perhaps be very like him, I am not him. But you can speak to me as if I were, if you like.” |
