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.

[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.

[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.

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.

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.