Roy and Dom: Introductions (Gunslinger/Avalanche)

[avalanche]

Dominic waited in the Bistro, watching the patrons come and go. It was a nice place, somewhere he'd been on a few occasions when he felt like being alone. It was dark, had great food (though he was too stuffed to eat), better coffee, and awesome music piped low through it. All in all, an atmosphere that made him comfortable.

He sipped his coffee, reading a newspaper article about a Kentucky Senator being all pro-mutant. It was a good sign of things to come... Dom didn't believe for a minute that homo-sapiens would ever live peacefully with mutants, but he'd been wrong before. As far as he was concerned, the only way to get by would be having half of the government be mutants. That'd be fair. It's also be unrealistic... so until that day, he'd fight.

But if this guy can make a difference, that was good to.

Roy glanced up at the sign as his cab pulled up to the curb. This was the
place, and the time was right, so he could only assume Petros was in there.
He opened the cab door, slipped some money to the cabbie through the
passenger-side window, and walked up to the door.

Stepping inside, he glanced around. There were way too many people in the
bistro for him to identify Dominic right away, and he'd run enough recon on
banks and stores to know that if you just stand there looking around,
someone is bound to know something is up.

Insted he walked to the counter and flagged down one of the servers,
ordering a hot cocoa. As she drifted away, he turned on his heels and
leaned back against the counter, his eyes casually scanning the place.

And then Roy say him out of the corner of his eye. Most everyone in the
small cafe had someone with them, and the ones that didn't were either old
or female. There was only one young man who had what Roy considered a Greek
look sitting by himself, reading a paper. Taking the cocoa from the serving
girl, he walked with cup and saucer over to the table and sat down across
from Dom. "Good to meet you, Petros."

Dom recognized the voice, and looked up to see a suprisingly handsome young man sit down with him. Not that Dom noticed how handsome guys were usually, but his mind couldn't help make the connection about how the four of them were going to show up in the Brotherhood looking like a Calvin Klein commercial.

He nodded upward, which was the distinction between tough guy and normal guy. Normal guys - at least white guys - nodded down.

"Likewise Roy." He said, folding up his paper. He couldn't help but note the hot cocoa, though it could be coffee, and realize this was probably the most suburban meeting he'd been in in the past few years. Probably the most suburban Brotherhood meeting ever.

"I didn't get mugged. I was suprised." he smirked. "I'll let you finish your coffee and we can bounce. Not in much of a hurry to get back to the house anyway."

God knows he didn't need to sit around and watch Gracie and Luke stare daggers of sweet love at each other. He shook his head with a chuckle.
Roy grinned amiably, taking a sip of his cocoa and setting it back down on a
saucer. "Well, in this town one can never be too careful. Granted, that
means usually I just push the mugger down a dark alley and beat the shit out
of him... but I didn't know exactly what course of action you'd
take."

Roy took another sip of his cocoa, his voice calmingly suave despite what
he'd just been talking about. He looked at Dom over the top of his mug.
"So, domestic troubles?"

[avalanche]

(PART TWO)

"Well, they generally don't let guys who aren't mugger-muggers into our club, so I'm with you on that one, pal." He said with a matching grin. He liked Roy, right off the bat. The guy had the slightly wild look to his eye that Dom could really relate too.

"Well, there are three of us in the house. All applicants. It can get a little stuffy."

An understatement of sorts, but still quite applicable.
Chuckling, Roy took a longer drink of the cocoa as it cooled slightly.
"Glad to know I'm not alone."

"So, three of you, huh? Sounds like it'll be interesting with a fourth
added to the mix." He set his cup down and scratched the stubble on his
chin. "Sort of like a bad sitcom with the wacky mutant neighbor."

Dom nodded. "Yeah, place is pretty sparce too - it's like the Real World but with assholes. Which is pretty much like the Real World. If there's anything you'd like to sleep on, supplies you want for a camp out in an empty house, we'll swing by and pick em' up."

He added afterward: "I have to pick up a copy of the new Meatwave game for Sparks anyway."

Gulping down the rest of the cocoa, Roy set the cup off to one side and
leaned back in his chair. "I got some stuff to pick up back at my place,
just a duffel bag of clothes. Hope that won't be a problem." He dropped a
couple golden dollars on the table as a tip for whoever actually cleaned up
the glass. "We can get moving whenever you want to. Sounds like we got
some errands to run anyway."

"Yeah, let's roll." Dom said, glancing at the coins. Who the hell used dollar coins anymore?

He put a buck of his own down, and walked with Roy out to the car. He'd parked three blocks down, which was considered a good spot for the neighborhood. Unlocking the doors, he didn't say anything else until they got inside.

"So Roy. I gotta ask... what the hell do you do, power-wise?"

Dom found nothing wrong with just out and talking about mutations. They were nothing to be whispered about, nothing to be ashamed of.
Roy followed Dom out, walking the short distance to the car, and climbed
inside. He grinned at the other young man's question and rolled down the
window on his door as the car started, glancing around to see if there was
anyone near by. Seeing that there wasnt, he leveled off his arm, sticking
his pointer out straight, and destroyed a trashcan on the sidewalk with a
PIOW!

Pulling his arm back inside, he rolled the window up casually as trash
fluttered around the street. "Something like that," he answered.

"So tell me, Dominic Petros, who else am I going to meet in the Real World
House from Hell?"

Dominic glanced at the trash can, and rolled out of the spot before anyone could see them. That was a pretty handy power. Not exactly versatile, but very poignant.

"Not bad, not bad." he commented as he headed down the avenue. "How big's that get? And what do they call you? What's your real name?"

Then, before he forgot: "As for the other two? One is a running buddy of mine named Recluse. She's got a few spider-like abilities, including web-spinning and the ability to climb walls. Then there's Lucas James, unsure if you've ever heard of him, he's pretty big in the underworld circuits. His power's interesting... but basically he can punch with the force of a speeding train, and can jump really far. Powers aside, we have a variety of shady skills and talents."

[avalanche]

(PART THREE)

Roy pulled a toothpick out of his pocket and stuck it between his lips.
Helped to have something there to keep his mind off smoking. "It gets any
bigger than that and you don't want to be nearby. It'll take you out with
it." He leaned his arm against the door panel. "They call me Gunslinger."

"And how about you?" He focused his gaze on the driver. "What's your real
name?"

He listened to Dom list off the other two, and his eyes widened at the
mention of Lucas. "You're shitting me! You've got the Lucas James in that
house?" He laughed and looked at the road ahead of them. "I've heard about
him since getting here, and on principle I don't believe anything I hear."

"Gunslinger. I like that... and good to know about the big bomb. I'll make sure to steer clear." he said, taking a second to make sure he was driving in the right direction towards Roy's place.

"I'm Avalanche. My power's complicated... but basically I make earthquakes, disintegrate shit, and manipulate the ground."

It was already weird trying to describe his powers, and he'd only had to start doing it recently. He made a note to come up with some fancy names and shit for them. Rock-o-mancy or something.

He chuckled. "Yeah... Lucas fuckin' James. The guy really is everything he's hyped up to be. I wouldn't personally wanna fuck with him, unless I had some serious range. Still, he's helped me out already, and we're staying at his safe house."

"Avalanche, huh? Nice." Roy drummed his fingers on the door panel,
watching the streets go by. "Sounds like you can do some damage."

Not that he couldn't, but when he caused damage like that he usually wasn't
conscious enough to appreciate it. Sort of dulled the thrill of it.

"Well, sounds like Lucas fuckin' James is a good guy to have on your side,
then. I'll remember the distance thing, though." He aimed his finger like
a gun and pretended to shoot something outside. "Distance is what I do."

"Mass damage is my bag, yeah... and I'm with you, at range. Up close I'm pretty good at hand to hand - though probably not against someone who could kill accidentally with a punch, like Lucas. You got any professional skills or trades to go with the gifts?"

Avalanche nodded, following the sight of Gunslinger's finger - curious as to whether or not he was about to blow the shit out of something. Really changed his ideas of playing cowboys and indians. He hoped Roy never shot him the cool guy finger pose, as he'd be tempted to jump clear.

"Lucas is something else, yeah. Glad he's on our side. What makes you want to join the Brotherhood anyway, 'Slinger?"

Roy thought for a moment, chewing on his toothpick. Professional skills?
Do I even have a profession? "Well... robbin' banks, I suppose." He
readjusted his jacket underneath the seatbelt. "How I funded my
cross-country tour. I'm not bad at hand to hand either... just haven't had
a whole lot of practice lately when I can kill by pointin'."

Dom's next question surprised him. He hadn't actually thought about why he
was joining the Brotherhood, and he wasn't really up to thinking about it
now - riding in cars always made him a little sleepy - so he said the first
that popped into his head. "Intrigue? Boredom? Here, I'll come up with a
list and you can pick the one you like the best."

Dominic chuckled. Another wise-ass... it wasn't surprising, really. The Brotherhood was probably full of assholes and smart asses. Still, he was still fairly certain that Pyro would want people a touch more loyal to the mutant cause. He wondered if Gunslinger had ever really considered it.

He voiced none of this, though, as it wasn't his job to. If John had a problem with it, John could likely clear it up.

"Robbery's a handy skill." He said seriously. "So is this you?"

They were pulling up to Roy's apartment building.

"I'll wait out here. Grab your shit."

[Gunslinger]

Roy looked up at the building. Yeah, it was the run-down piece of shit he called his apartment building. "I'll be right back. Never keep things unpacked."

Hopping out of the car, he stepped briskly through the lobby and up the flights of stairs to his apartment, throwing open the door. "Honey, I'm home!" With a smirk he stepped into the bathroom, grabbing the toothbrush and toothpaste off the sink and tossing it in a small bag. With it went
shampoo, conditioner, and hair gel, and all that went in a duffel bag waiting by the door.

Closing the door behind him, he dropped the key off in the superintendent's mailbox and stepped back outside. Opening the door and tossing the duffel in the back seat, he sat back down and looked at Dom. "Well then, shall we?"