127 questions - Warren

[Warren Worthington III]

Mandatory Questions
1. What about you is heroic?
"Not a thing. I’m doing what I can to make the world an easier place for me and people like me to live in. There’s nothing heroic about that, it’s just enlightened self-interest."

2. What about you is social? What do you like about people?
"Those are two very different questions. ‘Social’ for me means I’m working, and that’s not about whether or not I like people or why, it’s about what I need from them at that moment. As for what I like about people… well, it’s different for different people, but I guess I most value genuineness and sincerity."

3. Of what benefit could you be to group you're currently affiliated with/intend to be affiliated with?
"Mostly, I’m the telegenic face and PR flak for the X-Men. I can hold my own in a fight when I have to, but I’ve got nothing to offer in that other X-Men can’t improve on; I’m a pretty good teacher but nowhere near top-flight. I used to be a reliable source of emergency funding, but that’s dried up.
Don’t get me wrong, though… describing myself as just a pretty face may sound like I feel useless, but it’s quite the contrary. This isn’t a comic book, after all… at the end of the day the X-Men don’t exist to beat up bad guys, we exist to demonstrate that mutants and baseline humans can co-exist peacefully. Posing for pictures and shaking hands and kissing babies is just part of the job. "

4. Why would/did you choose to join this group?
"Well, to be honest, at first it was a kind of scam… I wasn’t intending to go on field missions or anything hardcore like that, but Storm wanted me as a PR front when the X-Men went public, and I owed her for taking me in when I needed it, so I agreed. But afterwards… well, Josh is part of the team, and I really can’t face sitting around waiting for him to come home, or, you know, not come home. So I ended up being an active member, after all."

Personal Questions
5. What is your real, birth name? What name do you use?
"Warren Kenneth Washington III. Which is the name I usually use, except I don’t use the ‘Kenneth’ part."

6. Do you have a nickname? What is it, and where did you get it?
"Josh started calling me ‘Warr’ when we started dating… I’m not sure that counts as a nickname. Allerdyce calls me ‘Big’n’Blond’ when he wants to annoy Josh and ‘Wings’ when he wants to annoy me. And then there’s ‘Angel,’ about which the less said the better."

7. What do you look like?
"A little too tall, a little too thin, curly blond hair, blue eyes, conventionally attractive. I’m the only guy I know who gets told he looks shorter on TV. But mostly people notice the wings."

8. How do you dress most of the time?
"It really varies. Around the Institute I wear as little as I can get away with, usually… nothing at all, when I can. When I’m meeting with people or giving speeches I dress more conservatively, of course: suit, tie, dress shoes. When I go out for parties or dates or whatever, anything goes. But I suppose there are commonalities: I prefer lightweight fabrics and I try to stay fashionable. "

9. How do you "dress up?"
"Well, most of what I wear, even casually, is custom-tailored – I can’t find much off-the-rack that fits me, and that’s not even counting the wings – and I had some pretty good taste in clothing drilled into me at an early age. So it’s all pretty snazzy, if I do say so myself. Though I won’t be able to keep that up for long on a teacher’s salary, even at the Institute."

10. How do you "dress down?"
"By getting as close to naked as social conventions allow. Or sometimes a little closer. And no, that’s not because I’m an exhibitionist or anything – well, not entirely for that reason, anyway. I just don’t like feeling weighed down. "

11. What do you wear when you go to sleep?
" Usually nothing, but (cough) it depends somewhat on what I was wearing when I went to bed."

12. Do you wear any jewelry?
"I sold most of it recently. But I kept my grandfather’s Rolex – it was a present on my 16th birthday, and it reminds me of him – and the charm necklace Josh gave me for my 20th. I try not to wear them when I might get into a fight, though… I don’t want to damage them. Oh, and, um," (shy but proud smile) "…an engagement ring, as soon as it’s ready."

13. In your opinion, what is your best feature?
"Depends on what you mean. My most useful feature? The wings. My most attractive feature? Probably my eyes, though I have classically attractive facial features overall. " (laughs) "Yes, I know, one isn’t supposed to admit to things like that, but it’s a silly thing to dance around. My appearance is a professional asset and I use it accordingly… and it makes Josh happy, which is great… but it’s not like I had to do anything to earn it."

14. What's your real birth date?
" Sep 18, 1986"

15. Where do you live? Describe it: Is it messy, neat, avant-garde, sparse, etc.?
"It’s a fairly simple studio apartment in the Institute dormitories. I keep it fairly neat when I have the time to think about it, and so does Josh. Some art on the walls, a couple of dressers, some shelves, a lot of books… a king-sized bed I got when I moved in. There used to be a lot of electronic equipment, but I got rid of most of it recently."

16. Do you own a car? Describe it.
"No."

17. What is your most prized mundane possession? Why do you value it so much?
"That charm necklace I mentioned. Josh gave it to me on my 20th birthday, and it reminds me of him, and of that night. We’d been dating for a month or two by then, and we made love for the first time, and it was the first time we successfully, um, mind-melded, or whatever you want to call it. Also, Josh got the necklace in the first place to remind me of the choker he’d been wearing on our first date… um, well, maybe our second date, depending on how you count, but the night we officially started dating, and… well, it just means a lot."

18. What one word best describes you?
"I hate that question. ‘Artful.’ No, I don’t know why I chose that one either; ask an arbitrary question, get an arbitrary answer."

[Warren Worthington III]

19. What was your family like?
"He’s, like, the greatest guy in the world.
But you probably meant to ask about my parents’ family… and trust me, you really don’t want to hear the long involved Saga of the Worthingtons. Short form: Kenneth Worthington, my great-grandfather, came to the U.S. in 1910, one step ahead of the Great War. He made a killing in the munitions market, no pun intended, and he actually named his son “Warren Kenneth Worthington I,” which should tell you all you need to know about him… and, frankly, about his kids. He wanted to found a dynasty, and he did. The Worthingtons were one of the twenty wealthiest families in America before the Cure fiasco; now a lot of those assets are tied up in legal fees and contested property, but it will probably weather the storm. "

20. Who was your father, and what was he like?
"Do I have to answer this one?" (sigh) "Warren Kenneth Washington II. Most people call him “Kenneth”, or “Ken.” His brother calls him “Kenny,” when they speak, which isn’t often. Dad is stubborn, and clever, and sloppy, and determined. He values his family enormously – not the individuals in it, you understand, but the institution of it. He’s very loyal to that. He won’t back down from a fight, even a stupid one, but he’s really good at shifting terms and venues until the odds favor him. He knows what he wants and he won’t let anything stop him from getting there, and he really doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him in the process. He’s the one responsible for the Cure, though not many people actually realize that. And he can’t fly. "

21. Who was your mother, and what was she like?
"She can’t fly, either." (pause) "All right, fine. Kathryn Worthington, formerly Naismith. Born in France, raised in London, moved to California when she married my father. Science suggests they had sex at least once in their lives, but I’d be surprised if it was more often than that." (pause) "OK, that’s not fair. Sorry. She used to be funny and beautiful and smart, or so I’m told, before she married my father. Let’s just say he has a lot to answer for and leave it at that."

22. What was your parents marriage like? Were they married? Did they remain married?
"From what I’ve heard, it was more like a corporate merger than a marriage… certainly that’s how it seems to work now. But yes, they were married and still are. "

23. What were your siblings names? What were they like?
"Nope, no siblings. Just the one boy, to carry on the legacy. They checked, you know… amnio, etc. I’m not saying they would have terminated if I’d been a girl, but… well, I wasn’t. "

24. What's the worst thing one of your siblings ever did to you? What's the worst thing you've done to one of your siblings?
"No siblings, but I guess you could say the worst thing any child of my parents ever did to me was rip my wings out with pliers. Three or four times, actually."

25. When's the last time you saw any member of your family? Where are they now?
"This morning, in our bed. I think he’s with Jake now, working on a Cerebro design."

26. Did you ever meet any other family members? Who were they? What did you think of them?
"Well, there was Grandpa Warren, a bunch of times. I always considered him my real namesake when I was little, since he actually went by “Warren.” Last time I saw him was my 16th birthday… he died about a year later. Heart attack. He was a nice guy, though very much of his generation… most vocal racist I ever met, unless I count Magneto. Mom and Dad never told him about the wings, I don’t think… and I don’t suppose we’d get along especially well now, if he were still alive, but he was loads of fun when I was a kid.
Uncle Burt came to visit once when I was little, I don’t remember much about him except I thought it was hysterically funny that he called dad ‘Kenny.’
I never really met the rest of the family, at least not that I remember. "

[Warren Worthington III]

27. What is your first memory?
"Hard to say. I have a lot of memories of being little, but I don’t know what came before what. The most vivid is when I fell down the stairs in the main lobby and lost three teeth, but I think I was like six when that happened, it couldn’t be the earliest one."

28. What was your favorite toy?
"Bunny. Who was actually a stuffed kangaroo, but I was like four years old when I got him and I thought he was a bunny… I guess because of the ears? I’m told Dad tried to convince me it was a kangaroo and I threw a huge tantrum fit and declared he was a BUNNY! and the staff staged a quiet little revolt and simply never understood what Dad was referring to unless he called it that. Of course, I dragged the thing everywhere and left it all over the house, so you can imagine… ‘Freda, get that ridiculous animal out of the parlor and to Warren’s room’ ‘I’m sorry, sir, get what out of the parlor?’ ‘(sigh) Bunny, Freda.’ ‘Of course, sir.’ "

29. What was your favorite game?
"Hide and go seek. I was really good at it, too."

30. Any non-family member adults stick out in your mind? Who were they, and how did you know them? Why do they stick out?
"Not really. I mean, there were a lot of them, business associates of Dad’s and such, but I never really knew them.
Well, except, of course, the staff… but I never thought of them as “non-family” back then, they spent more time with me than my parents did. Freda, Elizabeth, Carl, Jackie – Jackie had a little boy, I remember, Leon, who she’d being over sometimes to play with me. Carl took care of the cars… he’d let me sit in the driver’s seat and pretend to drive them, when Dad wasn’t around; he had this pillow-thing I would sit on so I could see over the dashboard, and one day he brought me a pair of boots with long sticks in them so I could pretend to reach the pedals." (remiscent smile) "They were all really nice to me, even when I was a horrible brat. Of course, they had to be, they worked for my parents, but… well, I think they liked me, anyway."

31. Who was your best friend when you were growing up?
"I didn’t really have one, I guess. I played with my parents’ friends kids, and we had playgroups and things. I had lots of friends, I loved playing with them, but nobody in particular really sticks out as a ‘best friend.’ I spent the most time with Anna-Beth, because she lived next door, and her mom thought I was charming."

32. What is your fondest childhood memory?
(amused grin) "The first time I heard Dad call Bunny ‘Bunny.’ That was made, literally, of pure win."

33. What is your worst childhood memory?
"Oh, that’s hard… I had a pretty awesome life as a kid. I mean, sure, there was the usual collection of fights and punishments and scrapes and whatnot, but nothing really stands out. Of course, I’m probably just remembering it as idyllic by comparison to what came later, but… oh, I don’t know. Maybe that fall down the stairs I mentioned earlier?"

[Warren Worthington III]

34. How old were you when you went on your first date?
"Fifteen. If you could call that a date. It was more escorting Anna-Beth to her Sweet 16 party… she didn’t have a boyfriend, but she wanted someone to dance with and stuff. But she’d just started to develop breasts, and I’d just started to notice, so it was a kind of big deal for me."

35. It is common for one's view of authority to develop in their adolescent years. What is your view of authority, and what event most affected it?
"There’s no such thing as authority.

OK, maybe that’s a little extreme, but… I think people have this idea that there are positions in organizations that grant power, and people get power by taking those positions. That’s not how it works. It’s the other way around… there’s the ability to get people to do things, and sometimes that is acknowledged formally by a position in an organization, and sometimes it isn’t. When it is we call it ‘authority’, but really, what’s important is the person in the position. Can they work with people to achieve their goals? Can they maintain relationships? Can they preserve a sense of accountability? It’s all about people. Put an incompetent manager in a management position and sooner or later that position will lose all authority.

Which I guess I learned watching my dad hire and fire managers, mostly."

36. What were you like in high school? What "clique" did you best fit in with?
"I didn’t really go to high school; my parents pulled me out when they found out about the wings. I had tutors, instead. So really, I was a clique of one."

37. What were your high school goals?
"I just wanted to get to go there. Or go somewhere, anyway. I hated being at home all the time, always seeing the same people. I wanted friends, basically… friends my parents didn’t vet or pay for."

38. Who was your idol when you were growing up? Who did you first fantasize about in your life?
"Well, this is a embarrassing, but when I was fourteen Mom got really sick… bronchitis, I think. So we had a nurse come in every day to take care of her. Her name, if you can believe it, was Inga. Yes, Inga the Swedish Nurse… except actually she was from Indiana… but her parents were Swedish, and she’d talk to them on the phone in Swedish.
Yes, I know, I know, it’s a horrible cliché, but there it is. I was hooked. I’d break out into a cold sweat whenever she so much as looked at me. I was wearing the harness by then, and I’d dream about yanking my shirt off in front of her and letting her see my wings.
The most embarrassing thing about it, in retrospect, is that in those fantasies she always had some medicine or something that would make the wings go away before we ran off together."

39. What is your favorite memory from adolescence?
"Counting 19 but not 20 as adolescence: making out with Josh outside the Linkin Park rave."

40. What is your worst memory from adolescence?
"The day Dad first saw the feathers. They’d started growing in a few weeks before, but I knew there was something wrong with me, and I didn’t want anyone to see it, so I kept trying to pluck them out, but they always grew back. I kept thinking I just had to dig deeper, to get at the roots, but past a certain point it just hurt too much, and then one day I guess he heard me crying in the bathroom, and the cat was out of the bag, and he just looked at me, and I knew I’d disappointed him, and… it was pretty awful. "

[Warren Worthington III]

41. Do you have a job? What is it? Do you like it? If no job, where does your money come from?
"Sure. Three jobs, really – high school teacher, public relations flak, and part-time mutant adventurer – but the teaching job is the one that pays.
Honestly? I love it. They say the best way to learn anything is to try and teach it, and it’s true… I’ve learned a lot doing it. And these are some of the smartest, most gifted, most challenging students on the planet, and I have a complete free hand with curriculum, and sometimes they really surprise me… like Smith getting that letter published last year, for example. That was incredible."

42. What is your boss or employer like? (Or publisher, or agent, or whatever.)
"Ororo’s fascinating. Utterly unmovable when she feels strongly about something, but almost entirely unaggressive about it… she doesn’t argue, she just plants herself on principle like she’s defying the massed forces of Heaven and Earth to challenge her. And usually they find another way around, and leave her alone. I envy that. I used to joke that she’s not really a mutant, it’s just that the weather does what she wants it to because it’s afraid of her. "

43. What are your co-workers like? Do you get along with them? Any in particular? Which ones don't you get along with?
"They’re a fairly mixed bunch, not a lot in common. Coleman’s practically afraid of his own shadow, Toni doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything – certainly not setting fire to school property – and Sheppard… well, Sheppard is an enigma. Some are definitely more likable than others. But what they all have in common is the Institute, and the kids. And that’s enough. "

44. What is something you had to learn that you hated?
"How to live on a teacher’s salary. Actually, I’m still learning."

45. Do you tend to save or spend your money? Why?
"I save what I can, now. In case I need it later. Wish I’d thought of that sooner."

[Warren Worthington III]

46. What hobbies do you have?
"Does political activism count as a hobby? What about mutant adventuring? Flying? No, I don’t think so either. They do take up most of my time, though. I also like to cook."

47. Who is your closest non-mutant friend? Describe them and how you relate to them.
"Hm. That’s a hard one.

Outside the Institute I have a hundreds of fans, and business associates, and connections… and I’m friendly with all of them (not as friendly as I used to be, in some cases, but still friendly) and many of them are genuinely nice people, and I send them cards on their birthdays and holidays (well, I have a service do that… or did, before I cancelled it last week).
But we aren’t friends, and never have been. It’s all about money and favors and fame.
Not that I’m complaining, you understand… that’s more or less the way I’ve wanted it. I’m simply saying that’s the way it is.

I’ve started making some real friends now, but they’re mostly mutants. And I still keep in touch with some of my friends from school, but, well, we were friends when I was thirteen, and while they’re great people we just aren’t that close.

So… really, I don’t know who I could pick. I should probably do something about that, now that I think about it… it feels weird to have all my real friends be mutants."

48. Who is your worst non-mutant enemy? Describe them and why you don't get along.
"Does my father count?" (deep breath) "No, that’s not fair. He’s not my enemy, much as he feels like one right now. We’ll work through this one way or another.

Hm. This one’s hard, too. And for the same reason.
In some sense, sure, I have plenty of non-mutant enemies. A week doesn’t go by that someone doesn’t go on and on about how awful I am in a blog or an editorial or a magazine article somewhere. There’s a website out there that lets people “kill Warren” in various ways… dropping bombs on my head, having me sucked into a jet engine, plucking my wings off, and so on. I’m a co-defendant in sixteen lawsuits at the moment, all of which essentially involve people who are mad that I have more money than they do and want some of it. There are people sending me hate-mail, for the love of God.
But… enemies? Not really, no. It’s a lot like my “friends”… it ultimately isn’t about me at all. "

49. What bands do you like? Do you even pay attention?
"I used to pay more attention than I do. I’ve been listening to a lot of early electronicslately… Kraftwerk, Vangelis, Jarre, Tangerine Dream… I haven’t been to a concert in months. I think Linkin Park will always be my favorite band ever, though."

50 What tape or CD hasn't left your player since your purchased it? Why?
"No, nothing like that. I shuffle my iPod a lot. I’ve been listening to Canyon Dreams a lot lately, though… it’s good music to fly to."

51. What song is "your song?" Why?
"What an odd question! No, I don’t have a song."

52. What's been your favorite movie of all time?
"Brazil comes close. Admittedly, that’s mostly because of the guy with wings in the dream sequences."

53. Read any good books? What were they?
"Sure, all the time. I’m currently reading Creature of Habit – you know, Hank’s “unauthorized biography”? It has a lot of its facts wrong, but is surprisingly spot-on about public reaction to his U.N. appointment and has an interesting take on what that’s done to U.S. foreign policy. I’m not sure I agree with its conclusions, but they’re definitely worth taking seriously."

54. What do you watch on the Television?
"Well, some of it is work. When I book a slot on a talk show I watch the last year or so of it, or as much of that as I can stand, to get a feel for how they treat their guests… and once a week or so I watch a lot of news and talk programs, high-speed, all at once, just to get an intuitive feel for how things are being presented in various media.
But if you mean for fun: I’m getting into Traveler, I’ve watched CSI from the beginning but I’m getting bored with it, I enjoy House. I used to watch Lost but I missed a few episodes and now I have no idea what’s going on.
Somewhat more embarrassingly, I was hugely addicted to the various Survivors for a while there (don’t ask me why, I don’t know, I just was. I considered trying out for it for a while; I might yet) and I’ve been known to catch the occasional episode of Smallville just because Tom Welling is cute. And I watch Dante's Cove with Josh for the eyecandy, though seriously, I've seen porn with better plots."

55. When it comes to non-mutant politics, do you care? If so, which way do you tend to vote? If not, why don't you care?
"That’s really the wrong question. There are no non-mutant politics, any more than there are non-technology politics, or non-economic politics. The existence of mutants is a pervasive reality, it affects everything.
Leaving that aside, though… I don’t really vote along party lines; I vote for the candidate I prefer, which tends to be fairly unrelated to party. But voting is really the least of it; the real work comes in establishing who ought to be running in the first place, and in putting pressure on them to make sensible decisions, and holding them accountable when they don’t."

56. What type of places do you hang out in with your non-mutant friends?
"The fans I mostly see at public events, or when I go out clubbing… I haven’t done much of that, lately. Professional colleagues I see at meetings and conventions, and often we go out for drinks afterwards."

57. What type of places do you avoid like the plague?
"Nothing, really… I try to be fairly open to new experiences."

58. What annoys you more than anything else?
"Bigotry."

59. What would be the perfect gift for you?
(smiles) "Thanks, but that’s been taken care of."

60. What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?
(smiles again) "Next question?"

61. What time of day is your favorite?
"Sunrise."

62. What kind of weather is your favorite?
"Clear summer days when there’s not a cloud in the sky and you can see for miles."

63. What is your favorite food? What is your least favorite food?
"Fresh-baked bread. Anchovies."

64. What is your favorite drink? (Coffee, Coke, Juice, Beer, Wine, etc.)
"To get drunk on, tequila. For breakfast, tangerine juice. With a meal, any good dry white wine. When I’m working late nights, strong espresso."

65. What's your favorite animal? Why?
"I’m partial to humans… we’re capable of such amazing things when we put our minds to it. But if you mean non-human animals… I guess hawks. I empathize with them, somewhat... they’re airborne and urban at the same time. Not many birds seem to manage that transition well."

66. Do you have any pets? Do you want any pets? What kind?
"We have a dog… well, mostly, Josh has a dog, but I’ll admit he’s grown on me. "

67. What do you find most relaxing? (Not as in stress relief, but as something that actually calms you down.)
"It’s a tossup between flying and sex. And no, combining the two is a lot of things but it isn’t precisely relaxing."

68. What habit that others have annoys you most?
"Lying."

69. What kind of things embarrass you? Why?
"I’m not easy to embarrass, really. But I suppose as I’ve gotten older I do get sheepish about some of the things I do that seem childish."

70. What don't you like about yourself?
"My bones."

71. How would you like to look?
"I rather like the way I look, actually. Although I’d give a fair amount to have more typical proportions, if it didn’t interfere with my flying. "

[Warren Worthington III]

(( OOC: content advisory. Warren isn't shy about these things.))

72. Would you consider yourself straight, gay, bi, or something else? Why?
"Bi, in that I’ve had both male and female lovers. But really that’s still too restrictive: I’ve had mutant lovers who weren’t entirely humanoid, let alone traditionally gendered. The way someone moves, the way they touch and respond to touch, the sound of their breathing, their smell and taste, the things that make them laugh and cry and gasp… all of that is part of the package, and matters more than the shape of their genitals or breasts."

73. Who was the first person you had sex with? When did it happen? What was it like? How well did it go?
"Oh, Lord… this is embarrassing.
So, to begin with, you have to understand that from fourteen, when my wings fully grew in, to nineteen, when I ran away, I pretty much never left my parents’ house… and any friends I tried to make generally got chased off by my parents, not to mention that I couldn’t even let anyone hug me for fear they’d notice the wings, let alone anything else. I never took my shirt off in front of another person during those years, except my doctor.
But I had perfectly ordinary sexual urges, of course… in fact, Dad had doctors working on me all the time, trying to suppress the mutation, which meant I was usually on some hormone treatment or another, so a lot of the time I had extraordinary sexual urges.
So, you can imagine… things got a bit tense, sometimes. So, anyway… the day after my eighteenth birthday Dad hired me a prostitute.
…
Yeah.
It went well enough, I suppose. I mean, I enjoyed it, I came, I orgasmed, all that good stuff. It never happened again and Dad and I never talked about it."

74. Have you ever had a same-sex experience? Who with, what was it like, and how did it go?
"Sure, dozens. Quality varies, just like anything else… though you know what they say about bad sex – it’s still pretty good.
The first time was the drummer for this incredibly lousy punk-rock band, I forget their name. His was Steph, I think. Anyway, the guitarist was dating a girl I knew, and she’d asked me to check them out, thought I could help with publicity, which I couldn’t, but later I helped the drummer load up his gear into his van and we ended up making out there. He wasn’t a great drummer, but he had an incredible sense of rhythm, and he was totally into the wings.
Honestly, there was a while there where I’d pretty much fuck anyone who said something nice about the wings. I was a mess back then."

75. What is your deepest, most well-hidden sexual fantasy? Would you ever try it?
"Are you joking? My fiancé is a telepath… there are no hidden fantasies. "

76. What was the wildest thing you've ever done, sexually? Who was it with and when did it happen?
"Heh. You’d really have to define ‘wild’ to get a serious answer. I’ve done a lot of things. I guess the downright stupidest was the first time I had sex in flight… it was great, but I didn’t start out with nearly enough altitude, and nearly pulped both of us against a tree when I climaxed. "

77. Is there any sexual activity that you enjoy and/or practice regularly that can be considered non-standard? (Bondage, Fantasy Play, etc.) Why do you like it?
"Oh, Lord, where do I even start? I can enjoy pretty much anything if my partner enjoys it; I don’t have many hang-ups about what goes where.
But if you mean regularly now, that gets easier… Josh’s tastes are a bit more mainstream. Some bondage, some role-playing (mostly when we’ve just seen a movie we both liked), some semi-exhibitionism. We’ve been working our way through the Institute floorplan, and the risk of being walked in on is definitely a turn-on. Though only the risk of it… I don’t think he’s forgiven me yet for not warning him when I heard Ororo coming up the stairs that one time.
As for why I like it… well, that’s a big question. I guess the simplest answer is that I spent five years being ashamed of my body and hiding the things I could do with it. I’m never going to let myself feel that way again. And it’s a huge thrill to push up against the borders of what you thought you could do and feel them dissolve away."

78. Is there any sexual activity that you will not, under any circumstances, do?
"Sure. Nothing nonconsensual, for example. I’m also really not into inflicting pain, even consensually… I’ve done S&M scenes with partners who were really into it, but honestly it just makes me queasy. "

79. Do you currently have a lover? What is their name, and what is your relationship like? What are they like? Why are you attracted to them?
"And, again, where do I start? OK, the simple stuff first. His name is Josh… Joshua Sebastian Dalton, though nobody ever uses the full name. We’re engaged. Our relationship is… incredible. I can’t even begin to describe it. I feel like I’ve known him for years, and like I’m just beginning to scratch the surface of him, all at once. He’s the first person I ever really trusted, let alone loved, and the fact that he loves me back is enough to make everything I had to go through to get here worth it, and the fact that he’s sexy enough to make me sit up and howl is a pure bonus. He’s smart, talented, wise, sexy, compassionate… a warrior’s soul with the mind of a doctor in the body of an underwear model, and that’s not even getting into the telepathy angle, which I don’t think I can describe adequately to someone who’s never experienced it."

80. What is the perfect romantic date?
"Honestly? I’m generally happy with anything that (a) involves Josh and (b) doesn’t involve anyone trying to kill us, neurotic students camping out on our floor, or anything exploding… er, literally exploding, I mean."

81. Describe the perfect romantic partner for you.
"I just did."

82. Do you ever want to get married and have children? When do you see this happening?
"We haven’t actually set a date yet… there are some logistical issues to sort out, not least of which being that our government hasn’t yet figured out that making it illegal for people who love and commit to each other to get married is not just an unconscionable, not to mention unconstitutional, violation of their rights as citizens and human beings, but also unbelievably dumb if your goal is to strengthen marriage as an institution… but yes, getting married is the plan.
As for children… well, I don’t see either of us getting pregnant in the foreseeable future, certainly."

83. What is more important - sex or intimacy? Why?
"That’s a foolish question… it’s like asking me whether walking or standing up is more important. Sex is an intrinsically intimate act. Yes, I do understand that’s not true for everyone, but it’s true for me. You can ask them to answer the question, if you want."

84. What was your most recent relationship like? Who was it with? (Does not need to be sexual, merely romantic.)
"You mean before Josh? Um… well, if you’re willing to call it a relationship, it was a blowjob in a warehouse bathroom from a girl whose name I don’t think I ever actually knew, about half an hour earlier. If not… um… you know, I’m not sure I’ve had any other relationships."

85. What's the worst thing you've done to someone you loved?
"I don’t know. I accidentally kneed him in the balls once… does that count?"

[Warren Worthington III]

86. How old were you when you first got drunk? What was the experience like?
Did anything good come out of it? Did anything bad come out of it?
"Fifteen. I stole a bottle of bourbon from Dad’s liquor cabinet, drank about half of it, threw up. It was… pretty forgettable, actually."

87. Do you drink on any kind of regular basis?
"Sure. Most often, a glass or two of wine with dinner."

88. What kind of alcohol do you prefer?
"It depends on whether what I want is to be drunk, or what I want is to enjoy drinking it. It’s been a while since the former was true. For the latter, I’m fondest of dry white wines."

89. Have you ever tried any other kind of "mood altering" substance? Which one(s)? What did you think of each?
"Yes. All of them. No, seriously, all of them. Systematically. I refuse to try and list them now, though. My favorites were the amphetamines and euphorics, I don’t mind hallucinogens under the right circumstances, I completely fail to understand people who enjoy barbiturates."

90. What do you think of drugs and alcohol? Are there any people should not do? Why or why not?
"Toxins, especially addictive ones, are a pretty silly thing to put into your body, all things being equal. That said, people do all kinds of silly things, and all things are never equal. It’s not my place to tell people they shouldn’t… as long as they know the likely consequences and have some real ability to choose, and they aren’t endangering anyone else, it’s their call. "

[Warren Worthington III]

91. What one act in your past are you most ashamed of? What one act in your past are you most proud of?
"Hard to point to one act in the first case… the thing I’m most ashamed of is staying in my parents’ house for as long as I did and cooperating in my own victimization, but that went on for years.
Right now I’m fairly proud of standing up to my Dad when he threatened to cut me off, though the truth is it wasn’t even tempting at the time."

92. Have you ever been in an argument before? Over what, with who, and who won?
"You’re joking, right? All the time. I tend to win."

93. Have you ever been in a physical fight before? Over what, with who, and who won?
"Again, all the time. I lose those more often, though."

94. What do you feel most strongly about?
"Equal enforcement of civil rights. Especially for people like me."

95. What do you pretend to feel strongly about, just to impress people?
"It depends on who I’m with, what impresses them, and how important it is that they be impressed. Things that have come up in the last month in this category include Scotch, baseball teams, and strippers."

96. What trait do you find most admirable, and how often do you find it?
"Compassion. Rarely."

97. Is there anything you think should not be incorporated into the media or art (sex, violence, greed, etc.,)? If so, what and why, and if not, why not?
" If by media you include news media, then no. It’s called censorship and it leads fairly reliably to tyranny. If you mean art… well, still no, go ahead and do whatever art you want… but let’s not confuse the refusal to fund an art project with the refusal to allow it."

98. Do you have any feelings in general that you are disturbed by? What are they? Why do they disturb you?
"Sure, doesn’t everyone? Sometimes I feel like I don’t provide any useful value to the Institute or the X-Men at all; that disturbs me because I might take that seriously some day and wander off and go back to the way I used to live. Sometimes I feel like agreeing to get married was the most insane thing I ever did; that disturbs me for the same reason. Sometimes I feel like continuing to breathe just isn’t worth the effort… haven’t felt that way in a while, though. "

99. What is your religious view of things? What religion, if any, do you call your own?
"Nothing formal. And I don’t really believe there’s anything ‘out there’ I can pray to that changes anything in the world. But I do believe that what’s ‘in here’ is capable of miracles."

100. Do you think the future is hopeful? Why?
"Sure. People are actually pretty decent when you give them half a chance. And yes, we’re very very good at depriving them of those chances, but we’re not perfect. No matter how awful the environment we create for them, some of them come out healthy. And the limits one what one healthy person can accomplish are really very high."

101. Is an ounce of prevention really worth a pound of cure? Which is more valuable? Why do you feel this way?
"Sure. Because diseases spread as you try to cure them, but diseases you prevent don’t have a chance to spread. And diseases have symptoms that it takes extra energy to fix even after the disease itself is cured, which never form when it’s prevented. It’s a simple question of mathematics."

102. What's the worst thing that can be done to another person? Why?
"Take away their capacity to learn and to hope. Without that, it doesn’t matter what else they have. With it, they can get almost anything."

103. What's the worst thing you could actually do to someone you hated?
"I’m not sure. I hope I never find out."

104. Are you a better leader or follower? Why do you think that? If you think the whole leader-follower archetype is a crock of shit, say so, and explain why?
"Follower. Experience."

105. What is your responsibility to the world, if any? Why do you think that?
"I’m not sure… I don’t really think about it that way. I try to give back where I’ve taken, but it’s less a matter of responsibility and more a matter of preservation. If you do nothing but take, eventually the supply runs out, and then where are you?"

106. Do you think redemption is possible? If so, can anyone be redeemed, or are there only certain circumstances that can be? If not, why do you think nothing can redeem itself?
"Mostly I think the question is ill-formed. If by redemption we mean the ability to move into the future without being bound by who we were in the past, it’s not only possible, it’s guaranteed, as long as we’re willing to choose it. Choosing it can be really hard, though."

107. Is it okay for you to cry? When was the last time you cried?
"Sure. When I proposed, I think."

108. What do you think is wrong with MOST people, overall?
"They don’t really see what they look at."

[Warren Worthington III]

Post-Supernatural Awareness Questions
109. When did you go through whatever made you supernatural? What was it like (in your opinion)?
"Puberty. I shot up like a weed when I hit thirteen, like a lot of kids do, and had the worst case of growing pains you’ve ever heard of… my bones were reconfiguring themselves for flight, of course, and it just hurt like blazes. I think one of my doctors published a paper on “adolescent-onset osteoporosis” before they realized it was part of my mutation. And then the wings started growing in… just feathers, at first, then little muscular bumps. After Dad found out, we kept going to doctors to get them removed, but they kept growing back, a little bigger each time. It took about a year before they grew in fully… the next time they tried to amputate them I nearly died from blood loss, and they grew back anyway, so they stopped trying. It was hellish… I was convinced I was some kind of diseased freak and was going to die."

110. What do you think now of being supernatural? Is it cool, or have you been screwed?
"It’s pretty cool. I wouldn’t change if I could… though I wouldn’t mind fixing the skeleton."

111. Do you have a mentor? Who are they? How did you become their student?
"Hank. Not so actively anymore, but when I first came to the Institute he took me under his – took responsibility for me. He understood what being a visible mutant was like, and he showed me, mostly by example, how to avoid letting it define me without being ashamed of it… and he introduced me to real politics. I’ve been trying to do the same since then for other students."

112. Think of a major event that happened during your training/initiation. What was it?
"The first time I tried to land, and broke both my legs in three places."

113. What is something you had to learn during your training that you hated? Why did you hate it?
"Well, as long as we’re on the subject: landing scared me half to death for the longest time… I kept freezing up and injuring myself."


Miscellaneous Questions
114. What is the thing that has frightened you most? Do you think there is anything out there that's scarier than that? What do you think that would be?
"Those soldiers in Paris. I was sure they were going to kill me, or Josh, or both. I still can’t believe we made it out of that in one piece. And, yes, I’m sure there’s scarier stuff out there. I don’t want to think about it."

115. Has anyone or anything you've ever cared about died? How did you feel about it? What happened?
"No, not yet. I’m not looking forward to it."

116. What was the worst injury you've ever received? How did it happen?
"The worst I ever got beaten up was by that psychopath in Paris… her team ambushed me and Josh, shot me with a trank, and she just pounded me into hamburger. If it hadn’t been for Josh I’d have been paste."

117. How ticklish are you? Where are you ticklish?
"Somewhat. Feet, belly, base of my wings, back of my knees, mostly."

118. What is your current long term goal?
"I’m not sure. I’ll probably end up going into politics professionally at some point… it would be nice to create a position where I can make a difference to people, especially mutants."

119. What is your current short term goal?
"Finish grading my students’ final papers."

120. Do you have any bad habits? If so, what are they, and do you plan to get rid of them?
"Not as many as I used to. I was pretty self-destructive when I got here, in a lot of ways. There’s still some of that going on, but I’m working on it."

121. If you were a mundane person, what would you do with your life? What occupation would you want, and how would you spend all your time?
"I’d probably be finishing up my MBA and going to work for Dad’s company, climbing up the corporate ladder and dating a string of vapid beautiful women."

122. What time period do you wish you had lived in? Why? (Looking at this as an attempt to change history doesn't count.) What appeals to you about this era?
"The present. It’s where all the interesting work is being done."

123. How private of a person are you? Why?
"Not at all. At first, out of pure rebellious pique… I’d had it drilled into my head so emphatically that I had to hide everything that I refused to hide anything. After that, well… it’s hard to get toothpaste back into the tube, you know? And the celebrity is useful, it lets me get things done I couldn’t otherwise. And it’s fun."

124. If you were to gain an obscenely large sum of money (via an inhertiance, a lawsuit, a lottery, or anything else) what would you do with it?
"Pretty much what I was doing before… no single thing, really, just a lot of small things that need doing."

125. What would you wish for if you found a genie?
"For everyone on the planet to develop their own mutant abilities."

126. What do you do when you are bored?
"Cook. Fly. Sex, if Josh is around. I don’t have a lot of free time, though."

127. What is the most frightening potential handicap or disfigurement you can conceive of? What makes it so frightening?
"Losing my wings. I’m not sure why, really… I’ve just gone through too much to lose them now."