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Post by Seryna on Jun 3, 2014 15:38:20 GMT -5
Devon and Shade
Devon and Shade stood with Jimmy, Sophia, Chelsea, Priya, Ryan and Colossus. Colossus agrees. "I will park the van here in this shopping center parking lot and browse these shops while you work. I'll be on hand if you need help. I'll be wearing one of these that you can call me on."
He hands Shade and Devon a voice activated walkie - talkie apiece.
"If you need me, please don't hesitate. I'll see if the shop owners have seen anything odd in the meantime."
Shade glanced around the spot that he had led him to. It was a good time of day for this, people were moving in the parking lot with expendable money - money they could give to a panhandler. The non - students were looking around curiously.
"Sally used to walk around here." Jimmy stated, referring to a woman with dish water blonde hair who panhandled in front of the McDonalds. "We'd hang here, sometimes. It's been a couple of weeks."
"They probably wonder where we've been. How much should we tell them?" Chelsea wondered; watching Colossus walk away. Chelsea's eyes are wide as she stares after him. She clenches her hands around the edges of her pink T - shirt. Ryan places an arm reassuringly on his sister's shoulder; rubbing her left arm.
Priya rubbed her neck. A small nervous red rash was beginning to show. "We should be honest." Jimmy weighed in. "That we were abducted. Hiding it doesn't help them stay safe."
Ryan and Chelsea nod, but Sophia frowns and bites her lip. "Its a lot to believe. A lot to take in."
Sophia clearly disagrees with her friends. She turns and looks to Devon and Shade, opening her mouth to say something. Sophia closes it; unsure how to continue.
What did Shade want to tell the people that he'd experienced the streets with? Was Jimmy on the right track with honesty?
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QuinnTalon
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Post by QuinnTalon on Jun 3, 2014 18:41:39 GMT -5
Shade"I don't quite trust it yet, but I'm beginning to think that those people kidnapping me was the best thing that's happened to me. Messed up, right? Shade took the microphone from Colossus and put it on, pulling the hood of his hoodie up as he did so. None of them had been seen in weeks here, and Shade was prepared for a lot of the others to have found better places to panhandle. Sometimes, it was just too dangerous to chance. Shade was the best at hiding of any of them, and he'd gotten grabbed from his own hiding places. "Being honest on what happened to us is our best bet. They may not know all of you, but they know me. And these people..they don't trust anyone. I used to be one of them so..." Let him do the talking. He could only hope they listened. "I get that it's a lot to believe, but if we don't tell them what to watch out for, they're targets too. Especially the mutants."Shade looked to Devon. "Think we should split up? We could cover more ground that way though...we're the only two with microphones. Might be best to stick together."
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CuteLikeMurder
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Post by CuteLikeMurder on Jun 3, 2014 20:00:43 GMT -5
Devon"A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people… better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave." "Shade's right," Devon said with a nod. Her head was still a bit foggy. Like she was waiting for a headache that wasn't coming. She assumed it was whatever she had absorbed from Shade fighting against her Regen Factor. She shook her head. Tried to get her head in the game so to speak. She sighed. "I think it's better to stick together. I mean, I went to all trouble to heal you. I'm sorta invested in your well-being now."A harmless joke. That's what friends did, right? "So where to first? I mean, you guys know this place."
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QuinnTalon
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Post by QuinnTalon on Jun 3, 2014 20:30:19 GMT -5
Shade"I don't quite trust it yet, but I'm beginning to think that those people kidnapping me was the best thing that's happened to me. Messed up, right? Shade smirked. "And I totally appreciate that you saved me the embarrassment of losing my breakfast all over that nice persian rug. In front of the Axis of Awesome no less." Because wouldn't that have been hilariously humiliating. Vomiting all over Storm's shoes? Or Magneto's? Or Mystique's? Well... ...Mystique's. He trained his face into a passive, solemn mask. Devon was one of the people he trusted most. Jimmy and his sister and Priya too, but he got the impression that this was his rodeo, so he considered it. "Well...This time of day I was usually hiding someplace dark-ish. I didn't come out much because I couldn't see and I didn't have my nifty goggles like I do now. So...
"...Does anyone see Sally? Or anyone you know? I was thinking of heading down one of the darker alleys otherwise."
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Post by Seryna on Jun 4, 2014 1:36:40 GMT -5
"Sally..." Jimmy turns his head from side to side, scanning the crowd. After a moment he states quietly.
"Sally is nearby." Jimmy whispers. "She is watching us." He doesn't seem to be looking at any one in particular. Sophia, Ryan and Chelsea nod as though this is routine for them. Priya looks a bit baffled, her eyes roving the passersby. A cluster of high school aged teenagers wander into a nearby Starbucks; laughing and carrying on loudly. Jimmy winces and shakes his head. His eyes widen as he speaks.
"She's in the the shadowy alley that Shade prefers." Jimmy states quietly; careful not to point or look in that direction.
"Let's not all move in." Chelsea agrees; glancing to her brother in particular. "Shade, Devon, you two want to go talk to her? Jimmy, you think you could 'find' her again if she runs?"
"That alley can be reached around the back of Starbucks. I'll move to the other end of the alley in case she bolts." Priya offers.
"I don't know..." Jimmy glances over to the Starbucks and the other people moving around the shopping center. "It's a lot."
Jimmy looks a bit pale. He runs a hand through his hair, expressing anxiety.
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QuinnTalon
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Post by QuinnTalon on Jun 4, 2014 8:02:34 GMT -5
Shade"I don't quite trust it yet, but I'm beginning to think that those people kidnapping me was the best thing that's happened to me. Messed up, right? "Don't try to subdue her. If she bolts, I don't want her feeling trapped. I know that feeling. It sucks." He couldn't say that a few months ago, he wouldn't have done the same thing. In fact, he had done the same thing. He'd taken off at a run and tried to hide himself someplace else. They'd flushed him out with bright lights. In the end, he hadn't put up much of a fight save to cover his head because it had just been way, way too bright. Those kids in that Starbucks disappeared, and everyone would be looking for them. People like Shade? No one had looked, he was sure. Even the X-Men had stumbled across him and the others when looking for Rogue. To the world at large, Shade was a dead boy. He didn't exist save on a headstone in a cemetery. In the end, it was better that way. Maybe someday he'd walk up to the door of his old house, knock, and look his parents in the face. He just didn't want to do that until he could hold his head high and be proud of the man he'd become. That wouldn't be for a very, very long time. "Devon and I will go. When I get to the alley, I'll take off the goggles. She's not going to recognize me with them, but it'll also mean I won't be able to see as well. So keep an eye out for me."He could darken the alley if he needed to in order to fight, but blinding everyone meant everyone and he didn't want to do that unless he absolutely had to. Shade nodded to Devon, and then started toward the alley, pushing the hood off just long enough to remove the goggles. One hand touched the wall for balance and as a means to 'see', and in that moment he knew this place. He'd lived here for the better part of a year, and it was suddenly so familiar that he didn't need to see. He knew every cranny of the brick wall. Every crack in the sidewalk. Knew just where to step so that he didn't run into trash cans or the dumpster. "Sally? Sally, it's Shade. Can we talk?" He kept his voice low. Gentle. As if he were talking to a frightened animal rather than a street-smart panhandler. He knew how people like him thought and he couldn't blame her. Being wary was in their blood. It had to be.
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Post by Seryna on Jun 8, 2014 15:29:26 GMT -5
"Shade?" Sally frowned at Shade and took several steps back, walking down the alley. She jerks her head impatiently at him and back towards her, gesturing for him to follow. She turns her head and studies the alley. You can see that this alley is mostly deserted. An older man with his face mostly hidden under a black knit cap sleeps against the wall by the entrance. He seems oblivious. Sally stops walking away and studies the opposite end of the alley. The mouth of the alley is about ten feet away. A person walks by the entrance of the alley every other minute or so, someone hurriedly cutting through en route to some place better.
Sally's eyes swing back towards Shade. She looks at Devon for a full minute, looking down at her shoes and back up to her eyes. Her eyes flick to Shade, curiosity shining there.
"We can talk."
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CuteLikeMurder
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Post by CuteLikeMurder on Jun 8, 2014 16:51:52 GMT -5
Devon"A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people… better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave." Devon stood just behind Shade. This was his contact, not hers. And if this girl was already watching them it meant Sally was jumpy. And who could blame her? That's where she agreed with Magneto. She couldn't sit by and as her people were forced in the shadows; reduced to subhuman status, and turned into experiments or cannon fodder. But where Magneto wanted to wage war and Storm wanted to help. Neither failed to realize the grim truth: if there was a war Mutants have already lost. Now it was about survival. "Hey..." Devon said with a nod.
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QuinnTalon
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Post by QuinnTalon on Jun 8, 2014 22:36:56 GMT -5
Shade"I don't quite trust it yet, but I'm beginning to think that those people kidnapping me was the best thing that's happened to me. Messed up, right?" "Devon, this is Sally. Sally, this is Devon. We're...pretty much all...right." Shade kept one hand on the wall, even as they followed Sally farther into the alley somewhat out of sight. He felt safer somehow, and at the same time not. Now, he knew that safety was an illusion. What he knew warred with what he felt, and maybe...maybe that was a part of 'growing up'. "Do...I know I've been gone for awhile. More than awhile. Weeks." Which on the streets meant you either went home or you were dead somewhere. They'd probably all written him off, which was why Sally looked so wary of him. Why any of the others would be wary of him. How many of them had ever come back after so long? "There are bad people, Sally. Really bad people. We don't know who they are, but...they were the ones who took me. You remember where I used to go during the day? They found me, and they flushed me out and then drugged me and took me to a place. They...did tests and things. Did things to me that I still don't know what...how it's going to affect me."Shade swallowed, and continued. "We found out that they went after other people, but instead of taking them against their will, they're offering them the things. Food. Shelter. But...they're doing experiments, Sally. Bad things. It's...I was lucky. Some people came and got me out, but...they'll come back. They'll try to find you all. I needed to warn you.
"...Have you seen anything? Anyone like that? Have they been back?
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Post by Seryna on Jun 14, 2014 16:52:05 GMT -5
"No, I haven't seen anything like that." Sally replies after a beat. "But people have said that there has been a feeling. Old Man Blue's moved over to the big tree behind the Big Five. Nancy and Crystal hole up together around here." She gestures to the alley.
Old Man Blue was a bit of a hypochondriac, but Big Five was farther from the most productive panhandling. Nancy was a bit of a cold hearted hazmot and you never had the impression that she liked Crystal much. It was an odd development. You recall a time when one of Nancy's fits had correlated with the breaking glass of nearby overhead lights a few months back. Sally had hinted that she believed that Nancy was one of You, but Sally didn't talk about it much more after that.
"Could be a feeling of being watched." Sally allowed. Sally tilted her head and took a deep breath, watching the opposite edge of the alley. She starts to scan the alley as she speaks. Sally gives off the feeling of being edgy and uncomfortable.
"You doing O.K., though? Those tests - what'd they do to you?"
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