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Post by Ororo Munroe on Feb 26, 2007 19:17:15 GMT
Ororo sits in the rec room, arms folded across her chest. She watches the news play across the monitor. A studio anchor is conversing with a female reporter in the field.
“And in local news, an anti-mutant demonstration is slated to occur this afternoon in Times Square. Supporters of the rally are already gathering next to the still-unrepaired sinkhole that was caused by what was said to be a mutant dropping from the penthouse level of the Baxter Building. How are things shaping up, Shelley?” The man puts on an ‘interested’ look.
“It’s going to be a busy day for the Friends of Humanity, Greg!” Shelley stands in Times Square, the Baxter Building looming up over her. “In December, a huge explosion occurred at the top of the Baxter Building, a 35-story office building. Those demonstrating here claim that the accident was caused by a mutant. Between the explosion and the traffic disruption below from the hole, nearly 15 people were injured or killed.” Shelley glances over her shoulder. “Behind me on the stage you can see the Friends’ leader, Graydon Creed. He’s among some of the most vocal supporters of the defunct Mutant Registration Act, which moved around Capitol Hill a few years ago. Back to you, Greg!” Shelley signs off with a jaunty wave.
“Well, isn’t that interesting…” Greg continues to provide insightful commentary, but Storm switches the set off.
“I’d been hoping that this was going to fizzle out, but it looks to be much more serious than I’d imagined.” Ororo sounds resigned. “I’m afraid this is going to get out of hand and someone’s going to get hurt.” She looks thoughtful. "Of course, no one's technically doing anything illegal. But I still don't like it."
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Post by Pyro on Feb 28, 2007 5:34:47 GMT
John, newshound that he is, is sat on the sofa watching the broadcast.
Of course, John also being John, sat is a fairly loose term. It’s closer to ‘hanging upside down’, legs hooked over the back of the sofa, head angled to one side as he watches…
… or at least, that’s how it starts out. Because as ‘Shelley’ continues, as more of what would once have been flashpoints – the FOH, the rally, the ‘blaming mutants’, the fucking MRA - are mentioned… shit, as the topic turns to Baxter and everything (because that’s still raw for far too many reasons to count, reasons which are too obvious to specify… and because yes, despite everyone saying there was no other way it could have played out he’d have to be something far less than human not to feel it’s his fault), he gradually rights himself so he’s sat *properly*, next to Rogue, leant forward so he’s almost hugging his knees, still watching intently.
Shelley and her annoying studio linkman are reduced down to a tiny dot and then to black, and somewhere in the distance Ororo starts speaking, though from John’s lack of reaction it’s like the t.v. is still on and spewing out the garbage. It’s no less than he was expecting, of course, but still not exactly what he was hoping for (which only further proves the point, as if the Bob debacle had not drummed it home, that hope is a mug’s game) and…
”Fuck…”
(Well, if no one else will say the obvious, you can always count on him)
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Post by Rogue on Feb 28, 2007 6:02:23 GMT
It’s not normal, far from it, really, but it’s weird how close a twisted a parody it feels right now. Feels too normal to be right, sitting in the rec-room watching the news, as if one of her closest friends isn’t dying, and everything isn’t falling apart…
The TV’s really not got her attention. She’s staring at it blankly – has been pretty much since she sat down, here, absently toying with the gloves on her hands and just sort of … gazing sightlessly at the movement and light, letting it absorb her attention. She’s not really thinking, either – because that’s not a good thing, right now, not at all – it’s just sort of a welcome blurry oblivion…
John shifting next to her catches her attention, though, drawing her almost in delayed-time out of whatever little world she’d been in, head turning slightly so she can see him better seconds later than she normally would have been looking over. She knows full well this hasn’t been a good …well, past several months, really... for him, especially, and she can see the shift in his mood as clearly as if it were hers, almost.
Were it not for the fact that she’s pretty sure he wouldn’t like it at the moment, in 'public', she’d have reasoned he needed a hug. But she doesn’t move, turns her eyes back to the screen after a slight hesitation, starting to actually pay something closer to attention to the words being said by the too-fake newscasters.
“…Back to you, Greg!”
“Well, isn’t that interesting…”
Rogue shifts slightly as the TV is clicked off, almost as if the sudden absence of the background noise has her on edge and uncomfortable again.
“I’d been hoping that this was going to fizzle out, but it looks to be much more serious than I’d imagined. I’m afraid this is going to get out of hand and someone’s going to get hurt….Of course, no one's technically doing anything illegal. But I still don't like it."
”Fuck…”[/color]
Her own initial response is a silent glance at the others in the room, and shifting slightly, pulling both legs up onto the couch beneath her. She’s not really sure what she should say – if anything, really. Another glance towards Ororo, almost questioning. She almost hopes they’ll have to go do something – she needs to get out, and, even though it sends a flash of guilt-fear through her, she wants to have someone to fight right about now.
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Post by Josh Dalton Worthington on Feb 28, 2007 6:16:13 GMT
Josh is seated on the couch next to Warren, trying to slog through some assigned chemistry reading. Toni was a merciless taskmistress when it came to the class, citing that the more work he completed now, the fewer actual classes he’d have to take in college and the sooner he’d get out. He couldn’t disagree, but it didn’t make organic chem any easier to choke down. What the hell does this even mean?
Truth be told, he’d been staring at the same sentence for the last couple minute, ever since ‘Shelley’ had graced the television with her obnoxious self. Josh wasn’t much of a news person (do they HAVE to run the same stories every hour?) but the demonstration outside the Baxter Building was worthy of his attention, seeing as he’d been there when the events had occurred.
And, really… he didn’t exactly blame the demonstrators. While it was unfair to blame everyone for the actions of a few, people had been killed between the explosion and the road being torn up. Accidentally, of course, and the reason mostly had to do with Emma Frost sticking her skanky fingers where they didn’t belong, but there it was.
One thing he could get behind was opposing talk of the MRA. Since the press conference, he and Storm had joined Warren as known mutants… which was one thing. Being licensed to use his powers (including the telepathy that the public didn’t know he had) was entirely another.
“I’m sure that Creed guy would love it if things got out of hand. Any publicity is good publicity. And if he can blame the violence on mutants, even better.” Josh sounds worried. “Do you think he’s going to get them to start talking about the Registration Act again?”
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Post by Warren Worthington III on Feb 28, 2007 16:07:01 GMT
Warren isn’t especially surprised by the rally itself – Creed is always doing something like this, usually to no particular effect – but is surprised by the media coverage… apparently it’s going to be bigger than he’d expected. He’s contemplating turning this into a class assignment when Ororo speaks up.
> " I’d been hoping that this was going to fizzle out, but it looks to be much more serious than I’d imagined. "
"Yes, I was just thinking that myself. Clever of him, actually – tying his latest rally to the Baxter Building gives all the newsmedia an opportunity to rerun their footage of the Baxter Building explosion and John Storm’s funeral; they’re going to lap it up like hungry dogs… yes, just like you, pup," he adds as the dog by his feet looks up curiously.
> " Do you think he’s going to get them to start talking about the Registration Act again?"
Warren looks up at that. "They haven’t really stopped talking about it, you know… they just don’t have the votes as long as President McKenna isn’t supporting it. We scare them, they want to control us; that’s not going to change any time soon. But no, I don’t expect it to come up for vote before the next election… if that strike on Neverland didn’t do it, this certainly won’t. It’s going to be a media circus for a while, of course…"
He thinks for a while and adds "I wonder if we can convince Susan Storm to talk to some reporters? An outraged sound-byte or two about how Creed is sullying the memory of her brother would go a long way." It bothers Warren to be this calculating about someone else’s grief, but better that than having to bury anyone else… and there’s going to be a lot of funerals if someone like Creed ever manages to climb his way into a position of real authority.
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Post by Ororo Munroe on Feb 28, 2007 18:47:33 GMT
Storm looks around the room at all the young people around her. It seems unfathomable that they could all be living in a future not far from now where mutants were blatantly discriminated against by the government. When things like the MRA dropped out of the public eye, it was rather easy to forget they existed.
> And if he can blame the violence on mutants, even better.
“There’s the problem. If this gets out of hand, he wins. It if doesn’t get out of hand, he still wins.” Ororo bites her lip for a second. “I have half a mind to drop a thunderstorm on them. After all, political activists are fair-weather friends…” She gives a small smile.
> I wonder if we can convince Susan Storm to talk to some reporters? An outraged sound-byte or two about how Creed is sullying the memory of her brother would go a long way.
And yet. If Creed could use the events of the Baxter Building to his own benefit… couldn’t the X-Men use his demonstration for their own purposes? Storm thinks about it for a minute.
“Warren… I’m still new at this public relations business, so let me run this past you. One of my concerns with this is that militant mutants like Magneto’s crew are going to show up. He’s all for theatrics, so breaking this up would broadcast to the country that he is not tolerating the Registration Act. He doesn’t care that it’s going to make all mutants look like terrorists… so what if we paid Times Square a visit?” She looks across at Warren. “If Creed gets too full of himself, I start a rainstorm, and we all get to hear his rhetoric firsthand. If Magneto shows up, we keep him from hurting bystanders and steal Creed’s PR day, giving us legitimacy in the public eye.”
Ororo taps the arm of her chair absently. “What do you think?”
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Post by Warren Worthington III on Feb 28, 2007 22:56:38 GMT
Warren frowns thoughtfully as he thinks through Ororo’s suggestion.
Mostly, what he wants to say is “What do you mean ‘we’, kemo sabe?” – despite his surprising revelations about dodging gunfire in Paris, he still isn’t entirely on-board with throwing himself into pitched battles. His joining the X-Men was supposed to be a dodge for media purposes, not an excuse for other mutants to try and kill him!
But he doesn’t say that, because he knows that Josh will go anyway. The fights he’s been in – freeing Drake, escaping from those lunatics in Paris, dealing with that psychotic psychic – have sucked, but finding Josh’s burned and beaten body outside Baker Mansion was a whole different dimension of awful, and Warren won’t ever forget it, or the fact that he hadn’t been there when it happened. And it’s not that he can do much to protect Josh, really… but he intends to be there to try.
(He also won’t forget who was responsible, but he promised Ororo and Josh to give the kid a second chance, and he intends to keep his promise. And, he has to admit, thus far he hasn’t screwed up too badly. The Baxter Building mission had been a fiasco start to finish, but Allerdyce hadn’t been responsible for that, and from the sounds of it he’d done better than most during the Invasion.)
Finally, when he establishes enough control over his voice to avoid any panicky squeaking, he nods. "Sure… of course, a mutant battle won’t play well on the Six O’Clock News, but it certainly plays better than a mutant massacre of helpless civilians." That came out a little more callously than Warren had intended, but she had asked his opinion from a public relations perspective, after all.
"Only catch is, we have to avoid being seen ourselves, until and unless an attack happens… otherwise we might end up provoking what we’d wanted to avoid. Which shouldn’t be too hard, if you can conjure us up a convenient cloudbank on an overcast day? Some of us are pretty recognizable, after all."
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Post by Pyro on Mar 1, 2007 1:58:05 GMT
< Do you think he’s going to get them to start talking about the Mutant Registration Act again?
Warren takes the words right out of his mouth – or rather, cuts off his muttered ”When d’they talk about anything else?” and puts the rest far better (read; more eloquently and with fewer expletives) than he could hope to.
He’s aware of Rogue shifting next to him, and glances in her direction; clichés be damned, she really has been his rock recently – well, since back before Christmas, even - and he’s getting about as good at reading her as she is him. This, he knows, is her ‘I need to give you a hug’ mode (because for some reason so much of her happiness seems to depend on playing mother hen, making sure everyone else is okay… and he’s only really starting to appreciate that now, where it used to annoy the hell out of him), and while he still can’t quite concede that much in public – even without the ‘usual issues’ getting in the way, it would feel so many different sorts of wrong with Bob off dying and everything else that’s going on there – flashing her a quick (and yes, obviously faked, but it’s not so much the ‘I’m okay’ as the ‘I’m trying to be’ which matters anyway…) smile and taking one of her gloved hands isn’t much of a sacrifice. It isn’t much of anything really, but he’s got the feeling that whatever it is, it’ll be enough for now.
His loose grip on that gloved hand tightens momentarily, before he can check the instinct, at the mention of Susan and Johnny.
< An outraged sound bite or two about how Creed is sullying the memory of her brother would go a long way…
”Yeah, right. Some dead drugged-up meta-human is going to mean shit next to whichever traumatised flatliner relations Creed’s no doubt dredged up.” That, too, he should probably have checked, along with the slightly more hushed (probably audible only to Rogue, because at least he’s still got the sense to keep it under his breath) ”Maybe he’s got the right idea” with which he greets the suggestion that Magneto might make an appearance at the rally. He’ll put the slip-ups down – much as he hates to play the pity card – to the Bob-situation, and not being in his right mind… though he doubts anyone else’ll be as forgiving; he’s still Magneto’s ex-right hand man, after all, and should be so much more careful about saying anything that can be played as Brotherhood-sympathetic, but truth is, it’s hard to care much at the moment.
Then again, someone has to be the voice of cynicism realism in all this, right?
Take Warren’s suggestion that they go in with a cloudbank for cover. Clever, but kinda pointless; it’s not like there aren’t those of them who can pass unnoticed without those measures (and maybe for once the terrorist training is coming in useful; ironic, really, that spending his time pulling of spectacularly attention-grabbing shit should have left him best qualified – in his eyes at least – to talk about avoiding attention, but whatever; you had to know how to get in and out without anyone realising what you really were…) ”Maybe this isn’t how the leather brigade works, but can’t we just send in those of us who haven’t been outed? Plenty of us can pass for flatliner students without the theatrics”
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Post by Warren Worthington III on Mar 1, 2007 3:05:55 GMT
> "Yeah, right. Some dead drugged-up meta-human is going to mean shit next to whichever traumatised flatliner relations Creed’s no doubt dredged up."
Warren shakes his head. "If that were all he was, you'd be right, but Johnny Storm was also a celebrity, racing star, ladies' man, all-around hotshot... and, far more importantly in this context, his sister is a beautiful woman. No, Creed and his people won't be affected, but they don't matter... we're fighting for the hearts and minds of the undecided. Sway enough of them and the Creeds of the world just don't matter. Paint Creed as the sort of cad who would make a pretty girl cry and you lose him half his support base... the guys who could care less about mutagens and DNA, who just want somebody to blame for the fact that their lives didn't turn out the way they'd have liked. Know what I mean?"
> "Maybe he’s got the right idea"
Warren is pretty sure he wasn't supposed to overhear that, but John wasn't taking his hearing into account. He lets the comment go by, though... this isn't the place to make that particular scene. He wonders, though, just how reliable Allerdyce's change of heart is going to turn out to be, in the long run.
> "can’t we just send in those of us who haven’t been outed"
"Sure... except what happens if it does come to a fight? This isn't like Alcatraz, there's going to be cameras everywhere. Are you ready to get your face on film throwing fire around? For that matter... are you ready to face the Brotherhood, if it does come to that?"
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Post by Josh Dalton Worthington on Mar 1, 2007 5:14:40 GMT
Josh can feel the tangled emotions playing through Warren at Ororo’s suggestion. An image of himself, beaten and unconscious, rises to the forefront of his mind via their link. Quickly it disappears, replaced with an urge to protect him at any cost. Oh, Warren… Internally, Josh knows Warren’s not totally on the bus as far as the risking their lives goes. You know, I’m not, either. But it means the world to him that Warren’s willing to go along just because he wants him to come back safe.
> Sure… of course, a mutant battle won’t play well on the Six O’Clock News, but it certainly plays better than a mutant massacre of helpless civilians.
He slips a hand into Warren’s subtly, between their bodies on the couch. I love you. Perhaps an odd response to what Warren verbalized, but it makes complete sense taking the previous flurry of emotions.
> Maybe this isn’t how the leather brigade works, but can’t we just send in those of us who haven’t been outed?
> For that matter... are you ready to face the Brotherhood, if it does come to that?
Oh, crap. This is not happening! Miraculously, there hadn’t been any altercations between John and Warren since they’d all returned from rescuing Bobby, despite Warren’s anger at his injuries at John’s hands. He appreciated it in a medieval defending-his-honor sense, but he’d healed up fine, and the last thing they needed was to have a catfight in the rec room. Or set off the sprinklers…
He begins talking a little hurriedly. “I think Warren’s right, John. Most of us are pretty distinctive. He and Ororo would get spotted pretty fast without disguises, and I think Rogue and I might get recognized as well. Bobby’s…” He pauses for a moment. “I don’t think Bobby should be using his powers any more than absolutely necessary, despite what he’s been telling us. Which leaves some of the underclassmen… and you.”
Josh looks across the room, a grin beginning to show. “Unless you wouldn’t mind leading the teenybopper brigade, that is…”
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Post by Rogue on Mar 1, 2007 6:27:51 GMT
Rogue returns John’s smile (which she can see straight through, but she’s glad for the attempt, at least) with one of her own - the concerned-but-pacified-for-now sort that seem to be plentiful around him, especially as of lately. She’s a little surprised by his taking her hand, but she doesn’t mind, really, flashing a slightly-less worried smile and tuning back into the conversation.
"I wonder if we can convince Susan Storm to talk to some reporters? An outraged sound-byte or two about how Creed is sullying the memory of her brother would go a long way."
The quick tightening of his grip doesn’t go unnoticed, though, and the pacified slips closer to concern in her glance. She’s been told about the incident, of course – team stuff like that, and from John, a little – but details, she’s not really clear on. Apparently John’s a little more on-edge about the topic than she’d realized… and she shouldn’t feel so bad about that, because it’s not like she’s clueless about everything, or whatever – she knows enough, most of the time, and pays attention to what she can, and everything... And beside that, this really isn’t the time to start worrying about something like that (not to mention that she really doesn’t need to add another worry to the increasingly-never-ending list of things that she worries about, or even to the fairly-long subsection of that list that is worries relating specifically to John).
”Yeah, right. Some dead drugged-up meta-human is going to mean shit next to whichever traumatised flatliner relations Creed’s no doubt dredged up.”
"If that were all he was, you'd be right, but Johnny Storm was also a celebrity, racing star, ladies' man, all-around hotshot... and, far more importantly in this context, his sister is a beautiful woman.
Rogue’s not entirely sure if, were she in Susan’s place, she’d want to speak to reporters – or anyone, really… And she quickly squashes that thought down, because … no. She doesn’t want to think like that. Not when things are the way they are…
"One of my concerns with this is that militant mutants like Magneto’s crew are going to show up…”
”Maybe he’s got the right idea”[/color]
John’s words are quiet, but enough to catch her attention, and she shoots a glance his way, almost questioningly – it was clear, though, too clear to be mistaken, and …that’s not something she likes thinking about. She doesn’t want him to leave, and especially doesn’t want him to go back to Magneto…
But it was just a random sidenote-mumbling – nothing she has to worry about, of course. He’s not planning on going anywhere. He wouldn’t, not right now, at least… She tries to keep her expression away from the worried (and tries not to think about just why he pretty much has to be here right now), glancing back over, paying attention to the others’ words again.
“…If Creed gets too full of himself, I start a rainstorm, and we all get to hear his rhetoric firsthand….”[/i]
"Only catch is, we have to avoid being seen ourselves, until and unless an attack happens […] Which shouldn’t be too hard, if you can conjure us up a convenient cloudbank on an overcast day? Some of us are pretty recognizable, after all."[/color]
”Maybe this isn’t how the leather brigade works, but can’t we just send in those of us who haven’t been outed? Plenty of us can pass for flatliner students without the theatrics”
"Sure... except what happens if it does come to a fight? This isn't like Alcatraz, there's going to be cameras everywhere. Are you ready to get your face on film throwing fire around? For that matter... are you ready to face the Brotherhood, if it does come to that?"
”He already did.” Rogue speaks up for the first time, a slightly more defensive edge in her tone than she’d meant to put in, even though her voice is fairly quiet. She doesn’t like that there’s doubt about John (hates, even more, her own worry about the subject), because he’s here. He’s here, he’s been here for months now, and he hasn’t tried to leave or do anything wrong…
“I think Warren’s right, John. Most of us are pretty distinctive. He and Ororo would get spotted pretty fast without disguises, and I think Rogue and I might get recognized as well. Bobby’s…”
The pause sort of feels like some kind of weight is dropped on her, because it leaves room for her mind to fill in the blank space with her own thoughts, and… she doesn’t like that. This time she’s the one to slightly hold tighter to John’s hand, combination of wanting to make sure he‘s okay, and seeking comfort herself.
“…I don’t think Bobby should be using his powers any more than absolutely necessary, despite what he’s been telling us. Which leaves some of the underclassmen… and you. Unless you wouldn’t mind leading the teenybopper brigade, that is…”[/color]
The image of a ‘Teenybopper Brigade’ is amusing in itself (if a little frightening, all pink and pop music and the supposed "originality" that everyone has...World domination at it's finest?) – but John leading one? It’s enough to draw a slight snicker from her. More likely than not he’d end up threatening to roast them alive after the first five minutes of being around them.
[My God y'all talk a lot!]
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Post by Pyro on Mar 1, 2007 7:52:37 GMT
< Know what I mean?
It’s tempting to shoot back that no, he – sans thorough rich-kid grounding Pol. Sci. or whatever it is that’s made Warren the resident Guru of all things mutant affairs related – doesn’t know what he means, because maybe it’s just that he’s too stupid to understand, but it makes no fucking sense; win over the silent majority, and you’ve still just got a whisper, which goes unheard under the vocal minority. But hey, that’s just him, voice of the ‘real world’… But it’s not the best plan; he should be playing ‘nice’ after all, and raising anything feels like too much effort (looks like apathy might finally have a use, heh) so he just shrugs, yawns idly, and stretches, bringing him (totally by co-incidence, of course) ever so slightly closer to Rogue just in time to catch her concerned smile and shrug again, a silent don’t worry about it because he really doesn’t feel like revisiting Johnny’s last few minutes just now.
He also catches her look, and knows full well what she’s thinking. And yes, his indignant deadpan … oh sure, like I’d do that return glance is perfectly justified, because… well, there’s nowhere else he can be right now, is there? She knows that full. After the now-seemingly-inevitable is a whole ‘nother story, because he’s going to do what he always does and no one can make him feel guilty for that, but right now? No way.
< Are you ready to get your face on film throwing fire around? For that matter... are you ready to face the Brotherhood, if it does come to that?
… fuck. For a minute he’s dumbfounded – there’s no way he just said that, right? No fucking way. Even if Warren has more reason to be dubious than most, there’s no way in hell he’s casting doubt on John’s loyalty, not now. Bastard. Rogue’s words don’t go unnoticed, and he flashes her a grinned thanks… and the few seconds it takes to do that are enough to downgrade the urge to set fire to Warren from screaming rage to a wry ”Don’t beat around the bush, Wings…” which is at once challenging and pointedly passive, as if it’s just some shared joke at Warren’s expense. And yes, that would be a smirk.
Josh interjects before he can add anything more directly challenging to the table, and it’d be hard to find anything to object to even if he didn’t render the whole argument totally trivial by bringing the Big Issue – that is to say, Bob, and ‘all that stuff’ none of them are quite willing to admit to out loud – into things. And it’s almost darkly amusing that now he’s got less right to be taking the lead in any discussion about Bob, he’s all the more willing to cut into the pause with a definitively fierce ”Bobby’s not going” but… fuck, he has to do something, anything he can; none of them are willing to mention it out loud, but it’s worth stating that no, Bob’s not allowed to use his powers unless totally necessary… and the fact that Johnny Storm is a hot topic again (no pun intended, because that’s sick… in a very real sense, a spike of something near nausea tightening in his gut at the recollection) just drives that home.
< Unless you wouldn’t mind leading the teenybopper brigade, that is
It’s a relief that the tone veers back to some lighter topic, because… yeah, that’s an amusing image. Him, taking charge of the ‘new kids’… fuck, that couldn’t end well, could it? They’d drive him totally insane (and yes, he’ll settle for being amused by that and not take it alongside Warren’s concerns to cast further doubt on his newfound loyalty to the X-kids…). A snicker, a wry grin and discreetly giving Josh the finger with his free hand is the only proper response to that ridiculous a suggestion…
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Post by Warren Worthington III on Mar 1, 2007 19:51:42 GMT
> " are you ready to face the Brotherhood, if it does come to that?"
> " He already did "
> " Don’t beat around the bush, Wings…"
Warren nods acknowledgment to both of them… not really an apology, because standing up to Madrox to free Drake isn’t the same thing at all as standing up to Magneto to protect a crowd of mutant-hating protesters, but at least a concession that she’s right, and that Allerdyce deserves credit where it’s due.
Josh steps in before he can say anything more, which is just as well, and Warren squeezes his hand back and relaxes a bit against the couch cushions. The PR aspect of this is fairly clearcut, and he will happily defer to the others with respect to tactics and strategy… well, as long as he gets to stay close enough to Josh to keep him bulletproof, if it comes to that.
> " Bobby’s…I don’t think Bobby should be using his powers any more than absolutely necessary, despite what he’s been telling us."
> " Bobby’s not going"
"Well, at least we’re all agreed on that much." He doesn’t add that, given Drake’s current mental state after dosing himself with Mutant Growth Hormone, bringing the kid on a mission that depends on restraint and good judgment would be a dangerous move… he’s insulted enough of Josh’s old friends for one planning session, surely!
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Post by Ororo Munroe on Mar 2, 2007 1:19:31 GMT
> Sure… of course, a mutant battle won’t play well on the Six O’Clock News, but it certainly plays better than a mutant massacre of helpless civilians.
> Which shouldn’t be too hard, if you can conjure us up a convenient cloudbank on an overcast day?
> Maybe this isn’t how the leather brigade works, but can’t we just send in those of us who haven’t been outed?
Ororo listens to all the older students toss her plan around for a few minutes. The somewhat tense interaction between John and Warren catches her attention. As far as she noticed, John was making a real effort to re-integrate himself with the Institute, though she could hardly blame Warren for expressing skepticism. She herself felt John was back to stay, but it was impossible to tell the future. One thing’s certain, though. If he blows it after getting a fresh start… it really is a hopeless cause.
> "Well, at least we’re all agreed on that much."
“We certainly are. Under no circumstances is Bobby joining us today. His new lack of diplomacy notwithstanding, he’s under strict orders from me to minimize his cyberpathy usage.” Her voice is as hard as steel. Ironic that it hadn’t been Bobby losing his original powers, but gaining new ones, that had forced her to suspend him from normal team operations for the time being. When the team had returned from the Baxter Building, Ororo had been conflicted between relief at their safety and rage at Bobby’s stupidity.
“So. Who’s coming along? This is rather last minute, so I’ll understand if any of you had plans today. I think observing from midair is a good compromise between maintaining a low profile and being close enough to intervene in case something does happen.” Ororo looks around. “Fortunately, all of you are capable of one form of flight or another.” Her eyes land on John. “I’m sorry, John, but perhaps you’d better sit this one out. I’d have you stay on the ground, but I don’t want you to be alone in case something happens.” She looks sympathetic. “Besides, if Magneto does show up, I’m not sure you’re up to fighting him off quite yet…”
Ororo stands. “I’d like to use the uniforms for this. Initially, I was thinking we could go in civilian clothing, but I’d honestly rather have the extra protection and not need it.” A half-smile works it way onto her face. “Not all of us are bulletproof, after all.”
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Post by Rogue on Mar 2, 2007 4:52:14 GMT
”Bobby’s not going”
"Well, at least we’re all agreed on that much."
“We certainly are. Under no circumstances is Bobby joining us today. His new lack of diplomacy notwithstanding, he’s under strict orders from me to minimize his cyberpathy usage.”[/color]
She can’ keep the thought that if he hadn’t gone along – or if they’d been able to keep an eye on him, or hadn’t made him feel useless enough to do something like that – this wouldn’t be a problem to begin with from crossing her mind, but she tamps down on that track, because blame is on all of them – herself included – and … no. That’s just not something that’s going to help.
“So. Who’s coming along? This is rather last minute, so I’ll understand if any of you had plans today.”
“I’ll go.” Something to do would definitely be good – something to keep her mind off of…things. And besides, she’s fairly useful, now, whereas before, she’d technically been useless without absorbing someone, and … well, now she can help and still avoid that risk.
”I think observing from midair is a good compromise between maintaining a low profile and being close enough to intervene in case something does happen….”
This draws a quick smile from her – she likes flying, and any opportunity to use that power, she’ll take. That, too, even without any action they may or may not have, should help with the distraction from her thoughts.
“I’m sorry, John, but perhaps you’d better sit this one out. I’d have you stay on the ground, but I don’t want you to be alone in case something happens. Besides, if Magneto does show up, I’m not sure you’re up to fighting him off quite yet…”[/color]
“He wouldn’ have t’fight ‘im alone.” She interjects, frowning slightly. Again the tone is defensive, but her voice is a little less soft than it was last time she spoke. It’s not, entirely, that Ororo thinks he shouldn’t go that’s the problem (she thinks he should, sure, but that’s not her decision to make), but that it sounds as though he’d have to defend himself alone; she, at least, wouldn’t sit idly by and let him get hurt, and she’s certain the others wouldn’t, either, but …it just doesn’t sit right…
She casts a glance over towards John, almost tentatively, because… she’s not sure how defending him like that will go down. She doesn’t want to make it seem like he can’t defend himself – either verbally or against Magneto – but … well, he shouldn’t have to in the first place.
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