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Post by logan on Jul 27, 2006 11:56:15 GMT -5
Wolverine slowly retracted the claws, and took the cigar out of his mouth. He looked curiously over the table to the place where Simon had collapsed, and shrugged noncommittally. Oops.
Then something Rogue said perked his ears up.
“Hey, who’s showin’ off?” He really was only trying to help. Not his fault if the kid couldn’t hold his mettle, sometimes you just gotta – wait a minute, did she just call him a-
“Teddy bear?” He asked, a look of concern on his face.
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Post by Simon Burkett on Jul 27, 2006 12:11:14 GMT -5
The world was fuzzy.
He could hear a sweet, angelic voice calling his name from a long way off. For some reason it felt a bit like he was immersed in cotton wool, though slowly rising to the surface. Perhaps this was what it was like to be dead. It wasn't so bad.
Awareness returned surrounded by a faint haze. It was warm, and comfortable and an angelic face framed in snow white hair was looking down at him, calling his name. Simon smiled happily.
Being dead wasn't so bad.
Here I am, he tried to say, come and get me. His mouth worked but no words came out. Then the angel said something about intimidating teddy-bears.
What?
Reality intruded a little more. It was still warm and fuzzy but he was sure heaven wouldn't have a ceiling with an electric lamp. Or smell like cooking grits.
This time his voice functioned.
"Am I dead?"
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Post by Admin on Jul 27, 2006 12:23:04 GMT -5
Rogue laughed softly, "no, sug, you're not dead." She helped him to sit up, an arm around his shoulders, and grabbed his soda off the table, handing it to him so he could take a sip. You were probably supposed to give the recently-fainted water, not highly caffinated soda, but it would do in a pinch.
"Better?" Some of the color was at least returning to his face, and she was glad Logan had safetly stored his claws away again.
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Post by Simon Burkett on Jul 27, 2006 15:44:11 GMT -5
Simon allowed himself to be guided back into his seat. Despite being somewhat dazed he was very conscious of the fact that a pretty girl had her arm around him. That certainly put some colour back into him. He sat and took a gulp of the Mountain Dew, the sugar and caffeine further restoring him.
He glanced uncomfortably at Logan who, much to his relief, had put the claws away.
"Uh, much better, thanks."
Ok, so they probably wern't the flesh-eating hill-billies of his over-active imagination. He didn't think Marie was anyway. But was she a mutant? She hadn't seemed at all surprised by Logan's unique display so perhaps she was, or perhaps she was cured, like him?
Either way, the game was probably up; they either thought he was a mutant or a complete freak, spitting drink all over himself.
"So, uh," he glanced down at himself depreciatingly, "does it show?"
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Post by Admin on Jul 27, 2006 19:13:23 GMT -5
Marie smiled as she sat back down in her own seat and spooned herself some grits. "To someone who has never been a mutant, probably not. I've become a master mutant-reader though, even without being telepathic."
She took a bite and enjoyed it for a moment before explaining her own situation. "You've heard of the X-men I suppose?" Everyone had, even in the backwoods Caldecott County. "I was one of them. Not for long, mind, but long enough to know it wasn't for me. I took the cure when it came available, and moved back home - here - and just sorta... accumulated other restored humans."
"You didn't come out here on a whim, Sug," she pointed her spoon at him before taking another bite. "Someone pointed you here, right? They all know what we are; they probably had an idea about you but couldn't be sure. That's why they sent you here, but there's never any way to know for sure is there?"
Smiling again, her eyes softened in understanding. "You don't have to be afraid of what you are or what you were while you're here, Sug. We've all been through the sudden cataclysmic event of discovering our powers, and we've all been through the agonizing choice to be cured, as it were." Having said what needed to be said, she moved back to eating her grits and let him digest.
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Post by Simon Burkett on Jul 28, 2006 9:10:20 GMT -5
Simon stared uncomfortably down into his lap. Had they really guessed what he was back at the store? Had they sent him this way because they knew? He sighed and accepted the inevitable; it was going to be alot harder blending in as a human than he'd originally thought.
He looked up at the two people at the table, re-evaluating them. Logan he could easily see as one of the famous X-Men. He had the look, he had the attitude and Simon didn't doubt for a second that he knew how to use those claws.
And Marie too?
He wondered what mutation she had suffered from to make her want to be cured and leave the hero business behind. He wondered if saving the world payed well.
"It wasn't and agonising choice for me," he said quietly, "I went for it almost as soon as I found out."
He looked at her with sad smile, "I, uh, don't think I would have been X-Man material, you know."
Wasn't that the truth.
He thought for a moment.
"Uh, is it true that that guy turns to ice all over? Only I figured that must be, you know, uh, pretty uncomfortable."
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Post by logan on Jul 28, 2006 9:20:52 GMT -5
Logan had not interrupted anything Rogue had to say to the kid, for he knew full well she had more tact and style when dealing with delicate situations than he ever would. He let her comfort him, and he listened as they interacted a bit.
"Uh, is it true that that guy turns to ice all over? Only I figured that must be, you know, uh, pretty uncomfortable."
“Some powers seem like they would be, but don’t. Some still hurt like a bitch, though.” Logan remeasured the guy, and continued. “There’s nothing wrong with chosing the path that is most appropriate for you. I want you to know that mutant, human, cured, doesn’t matter to Rogue and me… Shouldn’t matter to you either, bub.”
Logan left unstated that there was no doubt animosities that can build based off of your power. He doubted that Beast or Nightcrawler didn’t have animosity built up into their hearts.
“As for me, I -” He paused a moment as a beeping was going off in his front pocket, and stood to draw out a silvery shape of metal. It seemed to be basically a phone.
He glanced up at Rogue, “I better take this.”
Answering it, he took a walked to the front door and headed out to take the call.
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Post by Admin on Jul 28, 2006 13:30:53 GMT -5
"Uh, is it true that that guy turns to ice all over? Only I figured that must be, you know, uh, pretty uncomfortable."
A very small, inward smile played on Marie's lips as memories of Bobby crossed her mind. "Yeah, he really does," she said softly. She hadn't been there, of course, she'd been out getting cured during that battle, but she'd heard him talk all about it once they both returned home.
As Logan's phone beeped she withdrew from herself and once again joined the present company. She nodded to him as he got up, and took a slow sip of her own soda. Turning to Simon with a thoughtful look, she finally spoke. "So, this is going to become the most cliche' question you'll hear soon, but what were your powers, if you don't mind my asking?"
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Post by Simon Burkett on Jul 29, 2006 18:12:22 GMT -5
Logan had the weirdest looking phone ever. Simon supposed you must get pretty decent contract deals being in the X-Men, and the sorts of phones that not only kept you in contact but made the coffee and poured you a soda. He still wasn't sure about being completely made of ice. Somebody had once dropped a tray of ice-cubes down his pants as a 'joke' and it really hadn't been the best experience in the world.
He tried to imagine that all over. Then he realised he didn't really want to imagine that all over.
Powers.
He had never investigated his powers. He hadn't wanted to, not once he changed, and definitely not after the accident.
"I, uh," he started to say.
Then he looked down into his lap.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said quietly, "but I'm much better now, the cure worked and, and I'm much better now." He could hear Logan speaking outside, though the words were muffled through the wall.
"So, uh, how, how did you guys meet?" He asked, abruptly changing the subject.
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Post by Admin on Jul 29, 2006 20:23:47 GMT -5
Marie nodded in understanding and finished off her grits before answering his question. "Well," she said as she sat back in her chair and reached for a her glass to wash down the grits. "I'll give you the short version of it, shall I? The long version is rather... terribly long."
"When my powers manifested I ran away from home, like many new mutants do when they think they are a danger to their family and friends. I hitchiked my way to Canada, and saw Logan cage-fightin' in a bar. He won, of course, and then as the looser got pissed the claws came out. I knew he was like me, so I hitched a ride in his truck... without asking." She smiled at the memory of the musty tarp covering her, and his face when he caught her in back. He'd almost left her on the road in the middle of a Canadian winter, but something must have caught his heart because he stopped and motioned her in.
"He was none too pleased when he found me, but he let me ride up front and gave me some food. I wasn't sure where we were going, and I don't think he had an idea either, but it didn't matter, as we were attacked."
"The X-men were the ones who saved us, and took us back to Xavier's mansion." She was smiling as she looked down into her glass before finishing it off. "He's saved my life a couple times since, and he was the only one aside from Lee who didn't make me feel bad for taking the cure. He's a good guy like that. Understanding, ya'know?"
She looked back to Simon with a smile and nodded her head. "Plus he's real handy to have around during a fight."
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Post by logan on Jul 30, 2006 10:52:01 GMT -5
Wolverine came back in, the bizarre mixture of anxiety and excitement playing on his features, and sparking in his already feral eyes.
“'Ro says there's going to be trouble in Baltimore. They want my help, so she's comin' down now to pick me up in the new chopper.” He said, looking at Rogue. “They'll be here in about four hours.”
(ooc: Due to time crunches, is there anyway we can fast forward those five hours, and sum up the goodbyes and whatnot? I hate to rush what could be good rp, but s'gotta be that way. =( )
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Post by Simon Burkett on Jul 30, 2006 11:45:27 GMT -5
The mismatched trio spent the rest of the morning in idle chat. Marie gave Simon a guided tour of the house, explaining who belonged in each room and where the bathrooms were. Simon promptly forgot most of the names he was given and resolved to make proper mental notes once he was properly introduced.
Then Logan regaled him with some of the more colourful stories of the X-Men's recent past while Marie made lunch. Simon had offered tentatively to help but had been refused with one of her dazzling smiles that had set him to blushing again and banished him to the dining room.
"So the big guy throws me at the robots face and ... " Logan's story was suddenly drowned out by the whining roar of a large-sounding helicopter descending onto the front lawn.
"What the hell?!" Simon shouted over the noise and half made to dive beneath the table.
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Post by logan on Jul 30, 2006 12:19:01 GMT -5
Wolverine, however, perked up. A smile spread across his face as he stood and looked at Rogue, then out the kitchen window.
He cast a glance at Simon. “No worries, kid, it's the Calvary. Come on out with us, the X-Men are here.”
He waited for Rogue to join him, and then walked out and down the stairs to meet Storm and the new guy. The chopper was huge, and clearly military. It was painted a gloss black, and looked brand new... though there were some modification on parts of the sides that seemed new, perhaps added hastily or by someone who didn't want to paint them to match the rest of the bird.
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Post by Admin on Jul 30, 2006 16:05:31 GMT -5
Keeping her excitement in check for the better part of the afternoon had been slightly taxing, but Marie managed well. Once the helicopter finally arrived, however, her excitement spilled over and she made it out the door before even Logan had. Bringing her hand up to shield her eyes from the hot afternoon sun and the glint off the metal that hadn't been painted, she waited with a large smile for Storm to exit the chopper. Of course they wouldn't really have time to chat, but she just wanted to say hi.
Her other hand began to wave excitedly as the blades of the chopper slowed to a halt.
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