Summer

[seekevolution]

Though Mohinder didn't buy into the saying that there could be such a thing as love at first sight, the way that Simon Petrelli looked at Molly when they were first introduced made him reconsider and then immediately close his thoughts so Matt wouldn't worry. Mohinder gently pulled her long hair back from her shoulder so his hand could rest upon it, Molly in a bright red and yellow sundress,and said shoulder covered by a small yellow half jacket. They'd both been pleased to find it at Walmart on the drive up from Fort Lee to Maine, taking the long, scenic route even though Peter had offered them a chance to teleport.

Why teleport when they could have more time together and see the country? Molly needed a little break away from enclosed spaces and the forests along their mountain roads in New York and at the southern border of Canada was just the ticket.

Of course, there had been blighted areas, places where the virus had broken out, or worse, where communities had closed their doors and grown violent. They had just guided their black SUV around the problem areas and stuck to rural hotels on the interstate.

Now, standing in the foyer of what looked like another hotel and yet, knowing it was a family summer retreat, Mohinder could feel Molly yearning to go explore...and the eldest of Peter's nephews more than willing to guide her.

They were both the same age. They'd both been without playmates (what nearly twelve year old counts their brother as a playmate?) for a long while. Mrs. Petrelli, gracious despite her furtive glances at Matt, finally gave them the go head. "Show Molly to her room. Gently, Simon. She's not one of your trucks." Molly glanced back up at Mohinder and he nodded.

"I'll come find you shortly."

Comments

no worries. c:

[keepinmind]

Matt shot Luke a withering look, because yeah, he completely agreed with Peter that this was an uneasy situation. But again: didn't feel at all like he could cut Luke off wihout risking some serious damage done to ... someone. Anyone, honestly. With the kid's idolization of Sylar it was something he wanted to do even less.

No, he wasn't quite noticing that Luke was starting to imprint on him.

"I guess you can't just ask for it", Matt said dryly, looking back to Peter. "But they want Sylar gone almost as much as we do."

He hesitated for a moment, not quite liking the prospect of Peter going in on his own. If anything happened it wasn't like he'd be able to help. But at the same time, Peter was the one who would be most likely to manage.

"Just be sure to get out if anything looks wrong."

[microwavelength]

"He can just absorb powers? Talk about getting the bottom of the dung heap, huh, Matt?" Luke asked in a sort of sing songy attempt to be ingratiating. Peter had just gone off and said he should return within the hour, but that left Matt to deal with this new situation, one who kept tilting his head just as he was. "So...that's just like Sylar. Only without the killing."

Which really did make him wonder if Sylar had to kill people to take their powers or if he could be like this guy. It seemed to him that if your ability was to absorb stuff from other people, that could only happen one way.

Luke had never been to biology class. Mohinder would likely have laughed and told him that butterflies and birds did not evolve together but still had adapted more or less the same mechanic to allow them to fly, even if one was covered in scales and the other flesh.

Perhaps Matt shouldn't think about Mohinder, though. Or how hurt he'd been when he more or less told Matt to leave.

[keepinmind]

Matt kept his temper in check very admirably - or else he was already falling into resignation when it came to a lot of Luke's antics and commentary. "He's nothing like Sylar", he defended his friend immediately, bristling slightly all the same. "Sylar's a nutcase who kills people for the hell of it." He fixed a pointed look at Luke from the back of the car, where he was looking through the trunk to see if there was anything in particular they were missing or that could be of use. "Remember that. Alright?"

He really wanted to keep Luke's idolization of Sylar to a minimum. He still didn't understand it, and he sure as hell didn't like it, but he knew he'd only really get Luke to drop it if he kept reinforcing. Or maybe it was a lead-by-example sort of thing. Actually scratch that, he really didn't know shit about how to make it stick to the kid's head, but he'd try.

That's who he was.

He scrubbed a hand over his face briefly, managing quite admirably to also not think too much of Mohinder. There was something to be done here. He could focus on that.

[microwavelength]

"Yeah but we're all a little crazy. I mean, until something pushes us over board and then we're like...seriously crazy, right? So this shit with Sylar's dad abandoning him? That was like the tipping point." Luke picked at the wax in one of his ears and flicked it away. Most teenagers fell into two categories. Ones that cared how they were perceived and ones who didn't. Luke didn't even seem like he showered every day but the kid was homeless too.

Where was he suppose to shower if it wasn't a sink in a rest stop between doing things he both delighted in (like hurting people) and wanted to scrub his mind clean from (like what he offered Matt for the price of a meal).

"Your friend is probably one daddy issue or spurned girlfriend away from total Crazytown, USA." Luke understood the human condition just a little too well. He wasn't loved as a kid, he didn't grow up relying on anyone other than himself, and he did see the depths of humanity in it's cesspool.

The trouble was that he didn't see the good in it either.

"Hey, you got a phone?" A scan of his mind would reveal the kid to be thinking about his mom... And already knowing that she wouldn't pick up, he still wanted to call her.

[keepinmind]

Yeah, that was surprisingly insightful, Matt supposed. But that didn't mean he was going to buy it, still. Maury left him and Matt hadn't followed in his footsteps, and Peter had been through all kinds of crap without having turned vindictive - even when he'd ultimately helped Adam release the Shanti virus, he was doing so thinking Adam was going to destroy it.

Sylar might have a whole lot of reasons for turning out the way he did but there were no excuses in the world for what he had done. Besides, Matt had been in his head. There was something fundamentally wrong there that went beyond normal instability.

So Matt scowled as he listened, but fell into cop mode easily enough to ask, "Yeah? Think you'll hit your tipping point?"

It was an opportunity to try to get something out of him. Not that that was too difficult in general, he evidently liked talking - no, it was about the substance.

Matt was surprised to hear him ask for a phone, though. And especially the intent behind it. Closing the trunk, he looked at Luke somewhat cautiously, but did toss him the phone. "Knock yourself out."