6 Months Later: X-Men

[ngm_media]

Comments

Open to relevant X-Folks

[seismic_shockwave]

Kayla set down the newspaper with a smug grin.

We're heroes. Big goddamn heroes.

The last several months had been exceptionally busy for Kayla as she'd continued working for the Institute, balancing that with an increasingly busy career as Shockwave, one of the newer, awesomer generation of X-Men. She'd had an individual costume made and everything, a sleeveless black-and-purple number which allowed her to prominently display the X-Men logo she'd had tattooed on her arm. It turned out there was a cool place downtown that knew how to do tattoos and piercings for mutants. She'd got a nose stud from the same people and dyed her dark hair the same purple as her outfit.

Swiping a surplus muffin from the lot of blueberry muffins she'd baked a little earlier in the day, she went into one of the common areas with her stolen treasure and a cup of tea, flicking on the television to hear yet another story about the X-Men and their startling new popularity and the increasing media interest in the New Mutants off in New Jersey.

Hell of a world we live in today.

But more than anything, it made her proud. Proud of her family, for the Institute and the X-Men had long since become the family that counted. She'd never forget, of course, about her family back home or deep down, wish they'd see past their hatred, but Kayla had no time to wait for a happy reunion that would never come.

She had work to do. Just, not, thankfully, right now.

Re: Open to relevant X-Folks

[wild_child]

Rose too, had been promoted to the field team. She'd traded her burgundy and yellow, somewhat haphazard costume for a yellow and blue number that more quickly resembled that of her father's, and taken up the Wolverine name. Her focus with her psyionic claws had improved significantly, to the point where she could pierce most non-living materials with them easily, and deliver a powerful psychic shock to anything alive.

But going from student and sometime scrapper to full fledged super-hero? It was almost more than she could get her head around. And she was certainly cynical enough to be waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Hey, Shake'n'bake."

Re: Open to relevant X-Folks

[seismic_shockwave]

"`sup, Wolves?" Kayla called out cheerfully. "Can you believe the people on the news are still talking about us?" She shook her head and grinned. "Not bad for our debut."

Kayla found the transition more than a little jarring, but at the same time, it was incredibly exhilarating. I'm one of the X-Men now. That was an absolutely astonishing thought.

Of course, they were still a little rough around the edges- and just plain rough. Shockwave and Wolverine, while good superheroes, weren't particularly kind to bad guys.

Re: Open to relevant X-Folks

[wild_child]

Rose chuckled a little. "Pretty danged amazing," she agreed. "Like the good publicity in general... though not sure how I feel about the specific."

Re: Open to relevant X-Folks

[seismic_shockwave]

"I'd say any decent publicity for mutants is a good thing." Kayla replied thoughtfully. "Though the whole celebrity thing is going to be strange. Not like either of us exactly fade into the night with our outfits. At least you've got a mask. Kids at culinary school are gonna find out pretty quickly the new girl punches supervillains in her spare time."

It was something she hadn't thought of a whole lot, but while she'd always assumed that superheroics was a 'right now' thing and not a permanent lifestyle choice, she was finding it was quite to her liking.

"Pretty sure they'll start writing fanfics about us, though. Can't wait to find out what all the horrid ships are."

Re: Open to relevant X-Folks

[wild_child]

"Pointy mask is traditional," Rose said. "Not as good a disguise as an eyepatch, but ya do what ya can."

She tilted her head slightly. "'Ships'?"

[dark_scion]

Fred on the other hand felt sick to his stomach most days. Offering to help Dolemeck regain his ability to walk, which he could have and would have done, still did not grant him access to the damn laboratory facilities. So for the sake of his research he bit his tongue and joined the ridiculous student program. Frankly he felt he could instruct half the things the teachers "taught" in those classes himself. Whatever his progenitor's faults, his extensive learning curriculum had been efficient. He did not believe in the X-Men's cause. He had no illusions that this "acceptance" that the team was currently enjoying was anything other than a fad. The team had done something that homo sapiens benefited from. Before long they would remember why mutants were dangerous once more and the status quo would resume. The sheer naivete exhibited by everyone lately was just so..so..infuriating!

Just a little longer, Friedrich. Eyes on the prize and all that.

[iced_cherub]

Fred wasn't the only one sick about the hero bit. Bobbi was a ball of nerves, the bioengineered girl also was really wondering if her winged donor dad had the issue of people trying to steal feathers when he went out in public.

"Hey Fred," hey may as well be polite even though she was walking around under a blanket. Last thing she wanted was classmates teasing her about molting.

[dark_scion]

He glanced back. "Hello, Bobbi." He turned back, then did a legit double-take. "What on earth are you doing?"

[iced_cherub]

"Going down to medical to get some oinment. And so not going anywhere outside until the fame bit becomes yesterday's news. Seriously you'd think people would ASK before touching animal appendages.". She grumbled. "Really doubt Warren had to deal with this... If he did it stopped when he turned blue."

[dark_scion]

"I am no more fond this new found fame than you are. It will pass as society will find another fad to latch onto," he assured. His look turned more sympathetic. As someone who frequently dealt with the issues of animal appendages, he could emphasize with her. "Your wings are troubling you?"

[iced_cherub]

"Just hope it passes and we're not in the hated list again." She gave a slight nod. "Losing feathers, some were pulled others are just falling out. Molting sucks, and pretty sure it's not something Worthington has to deal with." She shifted them slightly, and sure enough a few feathers fall from under the blanket. "They itch like crazy too."

[nohoundsallowed]

Rachel looked at the stack of late admission applications for the Summer. Then she looked at the almost toppling stack for Fall admissions. Everyone and their twenty-seventh cousin twice removed wanted to be tested for latent mutant powers and get into the school for mutants.

"Oh, flonq me." It was going to be a long afternoon.

[talk_to_you]

Doug leaned against the doorframe. "Well, if we get the teaching staff, we could always rebuild the Massachusetts Academy. Or go bi-coastal. I think Warren's got some property out there he's not using."

[nohoundsallowed]

"We could have the teaching staff, if I gut the X-Men roster to get it. But with Topher and the others moved up, I don't want the burden on their shoulders." She sighed and put her hands flat on her desktop.

"At least with Alison and Longshot now stateside, that adds two more people to wrangle herd. Though don't tell him I said that. He'd show up in chaps."

[talk_to_you]

He chuckled a little. "He's always had a little trouble with metaphors."

Doug went on, "Have you talked to the Professor lately? That was a pretty big speech he gave the other day."

[nohoundsallowed]

She shook her head. "I haven't, no. I should. It's good that he managed to position himself in DC before all this happened."

[talk_to_you]

"Everybody calling us heroes...," Doug mused. "Reminds me of when X-Factor saved New York from Apocalypse. Or when the X-Men "died" in Dallas. People said the same kinds of things then too."

He shook his head. "Hope this time it lasts."

Open to Mansion folks who want to chat with the resident ghost

[hauntingyou]

A lot had changed for Julia in the past six months. She was visible most of the time (when she wanted to be) and she was learning how to maintain a telekinetic "shell" around herself to prevent people and objects from accidentally passing through her. She was even presentable enough to go out for trips in public, as long as she stayed out of jostling crowds... her TK shield wasn't quite reliable enough for that, and the cold sensation from coming in contact with her ectoplasmic form could be quite shocking.

Still, she was happy. People could see her, and she could talk to them. She was making friends. She could do more than drift around and make things break. It was a good life. Afterlife. Whatever.

She sprawled out on the lawn, using a floating stylus to navigate pages on a tablet, reading all the nice things they were saying about her new friends.

Re: Open to Mansion folks who want to chat with the resident ghost

[dazzle_daybreak]

Josie burst out the doors of the mansion, looking around, and spotting Julia. "Hey! You got a minute? She had a sheaf of papers clutched to her chest. She needed a set of eyes. Any other set of eyes right now.

Re: Open to Mansion folks who want to chat with the resident ghost

[hauntingyou]

"Sure. I'm not really doing anything right now."

The stylus floated down onto the grass.

"What's up?"

Re: Open to Mansion folks who want to chat with the resident ghost

[dazzle_daybreak]

She shuffled over to Julia and sat down, holding out the papers. "I met this journalist in the coffee shop in town last week, and he's doing a piece about the X-Men, and wanted to know if I'd offer any material about life at the Institute. I need to send it back to him tomorrow, but I wanted someone else to look at it first."

Re: Open to Mansion folks who want to chat with the resident ghost

[hauntingyou]

"Ok. I haven't been here as long as you have, though."

Julia held out her hand, and prepared to TK grab the papers.

"There sure have been a lot of stories about the X-Men. I was just reading a bunch of them. I don't think they actually talked to anyone, at least not anyone here."

Open to anyone

[kinetic_assault]

Brianna arrived at the mansion and headed to the kitchen. She needed something to drink and a moment to clear her head. She'd gone through with it, but the worst was probably yet to come. For now, she needed to focus on how to juggle her new dual life.

She saw the article about the X-Men's heroics and allowed herself a smile. It was good to see something positive for a change.

Open to X-Folks and Rogers-es

[lilbrownspyder]

Recluse -- no, Stephanie -- scowled at the newspaper. Heroes. Well, perhaps. They weren't the ones who'd stolen her and what she read in the papers did sound like they'd done a good thing. But they still wouldn't let her go back where she belonged.

Except she was no longer quite so sure she wanted to go back to Hydra. Her handlers had always told her she'd been saving people and fixing the world. What she saw since USAgent knocked her out, she had started to doubt.

She set it down, sighing, and stood. Maybe she could sneak off and do some training without everyone watching her. At least then, she wouldn't have to think.