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Post by avalanche on Nov 25, 2006 0:48:38 GMT -5
As the two left the compound, Dom thought hard about the future of the brotherhood. He also considered Pyro's words: We're better than them. . Where they better than humans? In some regards, he supposed so. Though a universal blanketing of it seemed a bit bizarre... Dom never considered himself much different than a human. He just thought of himself as a human with powers, and that put the label of “mutant” onto him. His issue with it all was that the people being labeled “mutant” were getting screwed, and the world needed to change. Obviously peace wasn't doing it... but to say all mutants were better than humans? That was weird.
But then again... this was the Brotherhood. The propaganda IS that they were the 'master race' or whatever, and it made sense that John had bought into it. Dom knew that it was all bred from the resentment of non-mutants, so he could definitely relate. The problem was extreme measures needed to happen to let the world know how serious the situation was becoming. That's what they were here for.
If Avalanche could turn a profit at the same time, and have a little chaotic fun, then all the better.
He looked over at Pyro as they hit the tree-line, following a wide path down to the beach. “So you and Mystique really husband and wife?”
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Post by Nightingale on Nov 25, 2006 1:16:44 GMT -5
[Invited by CK, kick me out if you don't want me around, Sarah ]Holding the still-squirming Mr. Bones in her hands, Angie was smiling as she rounded the path that led up toward the base. She was murmuring to the little skeletal puppy, scratching his skull idly, but her head snapped up as she heard the sound of voices and the young Australian almost beamed when she saw who it was. Well, she almost beamed at the fact that Pyro wasn't alone. She'd been having trouble deciding just what to tell him about her research, but she could avoid talking to him about it as long as she could avoid getting him alone, and as green eyes swept over the other young man, she decided that it was definitely a good thing that whoever-this-was was with him. "I thought I heard the plane. How was the trip?" Shifting so that she was holding Mr. Bones firmly in one arm, his little tail wagging and almost hitting her in the face as he squirmed around to look at the pair, Angie smiled at the new arrival. "Oof! I..." She laughed, squeezing her eyes shut and bending down to put the zombie dog at her feet when he did hit her, where he ran around in circles excitedly, "I'm Angie. And this is Mr. Bones." She hesitated for just a moment before extending her bare hand - not stopping to think that there could be any danger to her here, surrounded by other mutants.
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Post by Pyro on Nov 25, 2006 3:42:24 GMT -5
“So you and Mystique really husband and wife?”
The faintest flicker of a smile lit his face up. "No," he said, "but we are...y'know. An item. She's the most incredible woman I've ever known. Strong, determined, resourceful, sexy..." He stared off over the ocean for a while, then shook himself with a laugh. "Listen to me, I sound like a lovesick teenager. She's been very good for me. She's taught me a lot - and she's one hell of a sparring partner."
Talking about Mystique made him realise how much he missed her. Since their reconciliation, they had barely been apart and he'd not even realised just how much he had come to depend on her steadying presence.
Before he could dwell too much on it, however, Angie hoved into view.
"I thought I heard the plane. How was the trip?"
"Angie!" John's tone was filled with genuine pleasure at seeing her. "The trip was good. No incident at all, I was almost disappointed. His smile grew wider and he turned briefly to Dom. "Angie, this is Dominic Petros - Avalanche. Dom, this is Angie Price - Nightingale."
He glanced at the ... well, presumably dog in her arms and wrinkled his nose slightly. "One of Dead Man's creations, I'm betting," he said. Pyro had never been a dog lover and an undead dog was almost like his worst nightmare...well, let's be honest here, 'made flesh' was entirely the wrong phrase.
"And this is Mr. Bones."
"Charmed, I'm sure," said Pyro, who clearly wasn't.
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Post by avalanche on Nov 25, 2006 17:45:38 GMT -5
Angie was cute, which somehow didn't surprise Dom. The third female Brotherhood he'd met, and the third to look like she should be in a movie. He supposed that it was a pull of the society, that the uglier women were filtered down into the grittier gangs... the high class level of the Brotherhood did not allow ugly women.
And then... Mr. Bones. The shambling bodies at least could have been guys in make up, they could have been hollywood stunt men on the set of “Afternoon of the Deceased” - but this dog... no special affect could have reproduced it. Some of it's bones weren't even connected to it's body, they were just floating as if they were, open air separating them from the rest of it, held by some unknown force. The Force of the Dead Man.
It spun his head for a moment, and even though he'd offered a sunny smile at Nightingale – it cheered him to see John so happy to see her, like she was a good friend – it fluttered just as quickly as John's had at the sight of the creature. Not out of putrid revulsion so much as out of the violation of natural law.
He recovered quickly though, and smiled at the two. “Nice to meet the both of you.” He said, though he kept his eyes on the dog. “Is... uhhh, Mr. Bones sentient? I mean, does he know what I'm saying?”
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Post by Nightingale on Nov 25, 2006 17:57:54 GMT -5
"Yes, he's one of Dead Man's." She rolled her eyes at John's obvious discomfort, although she supposed that she should have known he wouldn't like the little zombie dog.
"But no, he's not sentient. I mean, no more than a normal dog. He knows his name and Dead Man can get him to do tricks, but he's just... like a puppy." The young Australian shrugged, patting at her thighs and watching as he jumped up, stretching out with his little tail still wagging full speed.
"I think I'm going to get Dharma to make him some little bone ears." Angie leant down to scratch between where they would be. She really did like Mr. Bones, even if the others didn't - he was so cute, so endearing, and the closest thing that she was likely to have to a pet, unless someone figured out how to tame the jungle animals. And even though Mr. Bones didn't need much care, Angie liked having something that she was 'looking after' since most of the people on base were perfectly capable of looking after themselves.
"So, Avalanche? D'you make snow?" It was the first thing that came to mind, and it amused Angie to think that Pyro's good friend, the one he'd kept going on about, made snow to go with his fire.
"It's lovely to meet you, Dom, Pyro's told me a lot about you." She gave him another one of her bright smiles.
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Post by avalanche on Nov 25, 2006 18:22:14 GMT -5
Dom nearly giggled at the glowering Pyro was giving the dog, with whom Dom himself was rapidly getting used to. It was mainly his eyes that needed the adjustment, as seeing that sort of thing in real life was so surreal it was hard to focus on. Now that that was passed, he held only a mild discomfort.
He chuckled when she suggested snow. “Oh that'd make Sparks and I a right fine pair, wouldn't it? Together we could flood any place we wanted.”
Giving her a wry smile, he finally took her in fully. Angie didn't quite fit in with the Brotherhood, he imagined, she seemed awfully... well... sweet. She seemed like a normal girl. Like she belonged in a house on some street packed with other houses that all looked just like hers. She'd have an economy car, really cute, and with a bumper sticker with a funny saying about freedom of expression on it. Just one, not more than that.
Reconciling her with what he knew of Baltimore was incredibly hard.
“...Pyro's told me a lot about you..”
“Oh shit... Well, most of the stories are true I'm afraid. Except that one about the pet store and the barrel of gerbils. He usually blows that one out of proportion.” casting a wicked grin at John, he looked out through the thin thicket of trees and saw that this part of the trail touched on the beach. It was good enough for him.
“Come on, I'll show you why they call me Avalanche... although at first, I think it was sarcasm. When I first met Sparks I could barely quake the earth in a twenty foot area. After a while I had a trick where I could knock some stuff over, like a focused earthquake in a direction... which is kinda like an avalanche, since stuff moved that way. Now...”
he stepped through the thicket, and looked at the rolling waves on the rocky section of the beach. Smiling back at them, he held his hand out, and made a comical Bowling stance. Taking a few steps forward, he rolled his hand out in front of him, just like he was rolling an imaginary bowling ball...
About three feet in front of him it started. A loud rumble, and what looked like an explosion of liquefied rock and soil. Only the rock didn't look like it was liquid because of heat, but just sort of now in a liquid state. The explosion became a wave of the stuff, roaring forward and swallowing up the rocky beach in about a twenty foot wide path. At it's apex, the wave of earth was about thirty feet high, and when it reached the sea it sprayed waves up in a brilliant mist, until the forcewave disappeared beyond the regular waves. The sea slammed back together, and filled in the giant groove that was left in the earth.
Dom barely stepped out of the way of the rushing foam that splashed neatly along his man-made creek.
“Booya! Steeee-rike!” Dom laughed.
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Post by Pyro on Nov 25, 2006 18:33:56 GMT -5
Impressed, Pyro watched his friend's display. He got the feeling that the 'bowling' stance, much like his own overly-dramatic use of his hands was more a method of focusing his energies, concentrating his psychic effort.
"Well wouldya look at that?" he said, clapping Dom on the back and grinning infectiously. "He can achieve more than a pebble dash now. Good man, Dom - that's some seriously useful power you got going on there. Now then, let me think..."
The young pyrokinetic looked briefly around the beach, his green eyed gaze settling briefly on Mr Bones. The grin became broader and almost cheeky. "Now, in contrast, and to help you put things into context, Angie - the last time Dom saw me use my powers, I could just about send out a pilot light." Not strictly true: he'd been able to spurt a veritable jet of flame from a lighter, but had little control or understanding of his talents. "Watch."
He flicked his hand in a downward motion, sending the spark from his hand lighter into the palm of his hand. He trickled the flame from palm to palm thoughtfully for a few moments, then laughed out loud, throwing the flame up into the air, where it coalesced into a fireball for a moment.
The young man concentrated on it. An eagle had become almost passe now, so it was time for something else. Something not OVERLY ostentatious, but something that...
Yes.
It was like watching an invisible hand take the fireball and mould it like clay. Legs, a head, a pair of ears, a tail, and moments later, a fire hound, roughly the size of a large pony was hovering several inches above the ground.
Mr Bones didn't like this one little bit, which was made obvious by the way it tried to cower behind Angie. With a simple, almost idle pointing gesture, the fire hound threw its head back and bayed silently before heading towards the little bone dog who hared off down the beach, the fire hound in - pardon the pun - hot pursuit.
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Post by Nightingale on Nov 25, 2006 18:48:12 GMT -5
It was times like these that Angie was left feeling like the lamest mutant around, unable to even give a demonstration of her powers unless someone had gotten injured or was tired enough to notice their fatigue leaving.
When John sent a fire-dog chasing after Mr. Bones, though, she hit him on the upper arm with the butt of her fist - maybe that would leave a bruise that she could heal. Unlikely, though - Angie couldn't exactly hit hard.
"Oy! John! Oh, leave him alone." Poor little Mr. Bones. If he could be whimpering, Angie was sure that he would, but the zombie dog didn't have vocal chords anymore. That was one of the things that she liked about him.
"I'm supposed to be looking after him for Dead Man, you'll get me into trouble." Shaking her head, she watched the fire-hound chase the skeletal dog a little further before giving Pyro one more dirty look and then turning back to Dom.
"I'd show off, but I'm afraid I can't do anything that impressive. Unless you've got a broken bone you're hiding well? I'm a healer."
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Post by avalanche on Nov 25, 2006 18:57:00 GMT -5
Dominic was suitably impressed at Pryo's immense control over his element. He had come quite a way in the past few years, perhaps even more than Dom had himself. It was quite impressive to behold.
"Holy shit, Sparks... that's pretty damn amazing." He said, watching the hound pursue poor little Mr. Bones.
"I'd show off, but I'm afraid I can't do anything that impressive. Unless you've got a broken bone you're hiding well? I'm a healer."
Dom's face split into a grin, and he shook his head. "Maybe not as visually impressive, but very impressive in it's own right. You don't get many mutants who can affect the biology of others... seems to be a common limitation on the powers."
He picked up a rock off the beach, about twice the size of a softball. "For example. Among some of the stunts of my power, I can turn regular matter to dust." He concentrated a moment, and the rock did indeed disintegrate. He let the dust scatter in the wind, and wiped his hands on his jeans. "I can do it to all sorts of things... but I can't affect living matter with it for some reason."
He laughed. "Of course that's good, since I've got a great prank where I can nudify people... did it in Grand Central one time, must've nudified a hundred people before anyone realized they were standing around naked. Oh shit, it was brilliant!"
Sobering briefly, he looked slightly abashed, and then re-addressed her. "Anyway, I think what you've got is awesome... even if I have to be hurt to see it in action. Hopefully I'll never need it... though somehow I doubt I'm so lucky."
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Post by Pyro on Nov 26, 2006 7:38:03 GMT -5
"Don't you listen to a word Angie says, Dom," said John, grinning as she punched his arm. "She's one hell of an asset to have on the team. Plus she makes the best pasta dishes you've ever eaten."
With an almost idle snap of his fingers, the fire hound dissipated into nothing, leaving just a few flickers of flame, which he drew to himself with ease and returned to letting the flames trickle from hand to hand. "And thanks for the comments, but seriously, dude, you rock."
The pun made him burst into fits of laughter again and it took him a moment or two to get himself back under control.
"A nudifying ray," he said, with a smirk. "I could just see that being worth doing to the X-freaks. Just for the sheer entertainment value of the expressions on their faces."
He snapped his fingers again and the fire died out immediately. "Still really getting to grips with the whole fire construct thing," he said, casually, "but it's getting better with practise. Still got the problem of line of sight, though - I can't control it any more. And I still can't create fire."
He showed Dominic the hand device and how it worked. "Only ever need a spark to get going," he said.
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Post by Nightingale on Nov 26, 2006 8:56:16 GMT -5
The mention of the nudifying ray made Angie cross her arms across her chest uncomfortably, just in case Dom decided that it was better explained through demonstration.
Hey, she was an innocent. She couldn't just become nude in front of two hot guys, one of whom she'd done her very best to crack onto not a few days before and had failed dismally.
Thankfully, she didn't have long to think on it, because as soon as the fire hound disappeared, Mr. Bones came tearing back up the beach and leaped into her arms, shivering against her as she made 'Shhh,' noises and stroked his skull.
The dirty look that she sent at Pyro wasn't softened when he ended up in a fit of giggles over his own pun. Instead she just rolled her eyes and lavished even more attention on Mr. Bones, scratching along his jaw and down his spine.
"You," she shot at the other Australian-born, "are a cretin." She was going to have to ask Dead Man to put a dead horse's head in his bed or something. An animated one that would neigh when he pulled back the covers.
Actually, no. That was just way too gross.
"Anyway, I should probably go start on one of those pasta dishes if we're going to eat dinner tonight - how many extra are there? - so unless you boys need me...?"
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Post by avalanche on Nov 26, 2006 18:28:08 GMT -5
Dom joined John in the giggles, and nudged him that way that guys do when they agree on something being funny.
“I do rock!” He said, and then laughed again. After a moment he caught Angie glowering at John, and fizzled out with the laughter at the thought that she really did like the little dog – undead or no. That she wanted Dharma – whatever that was – to add ears to the thing put a genuine smile on his face that had nothing to do with restored friendships or that strange sense of humor he got with Pyro.
There was plenty of time to talk about the animation of fire structures, and the bizarre power that Dom had managed to discover within himself, but for now a his stomach was feeling quite a bit empty. Particularly now that he didn’t feel like he was holding in a good barf on the plane.
He grinned at Angie. “You know, I was hoping there’d be someone here who could cook. I’m something of a cook myself, at least with Greek food – heritage and all – but I’ve been meaning to expand my culinary skills, and could use someone to work with.”
He looked back over to John with a smile. “Besides, Sparks here and I are probably just gonna be spending our time on the beach for a bit blowing shit up or having a dick waving contest.”
He almost added it was nothing she’d be interested in, but the visual of a dick waving contest prevented that from being a logical thing to say. Then he decided he’d say it was nothing spectacular, but that seemed somewhat demasculatory. So instead, he decided on:
“So yeah, awesome to meet you. Hope we run into each other in the kitchen a time or two, eh?”
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Post by Nightingale on Nov 28, 2006 1:51:15 GMT -5
"Yeah, totally. I don't know a whole lot about Greek cooking, maybe you can show me." Her cheeks turned slightly pink - but it was more at the idea of the two boys having a dick waving contest that the idea of doing a bit of cooking with Dom.
Hugging the skeletal puppy to her chest, she gave them both a smile. "I'll be around if you guys need me. See you later." And with that she was gone, taking the familiar path back up toward the base.
[Exit Angie]
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