Terrigen: The Mutant World.

[Aubs]

Nora’s eyes grew wide seeing Christmas confront Jing-Mei. She had felt better since her phone call scheduling her appointment with the therapist, even to the point of her headache subsiding, but after Christmas had came over her migraine was slowly coming back. There was no way she was just going to let some ex-diner waitress, who wasn’t even that spectacular at her job in the first place, tell her friend off for no reason at all. Nora shifted her eyes over at Jing as she got up out of her seat and walked over to face the blonde woman. Her eyes then hit everyone else in the diner including, Vinn, Moss, Treya, Tyler, Keegan, and the newest person to join their group, Derrik. She debated with herself regarding if what she was going to do was the right thing, but she finally decided that it was.
“Excuse me, but she doesn’t have to pay you anything that isn’t on that bill." She emerged from behind Derrik, to face Christmas. "You know, maybe you’d still have your job if you weren’t so rude in the first place!” She folded her arms across her chest and grimaced a vicious face. “You’ve been nothing but angry at us all day and for no reason at all.”
“Nora, dude, come sit down.” Vinn intruded, slowly walking over and placing his hand on Nora’s shoulder. The entire diner had gone silent as he walked over to her. All eyes were now on Nora and the waitress. The two blondes, ready to duke it out. Vinn was noticing a much harsher side to the young woman he had gotten to know for the past couple hours. First with the way she’d yelled at him once they arrived at the diner and just now that very moment when she was speaking her mind. Something was bothering her, he could tell. He wanted to help his newly acquainted friend go back to the way she used to be, but she just didn’t seem to want to. He was almost a bit afraid of this new Nora. She was tenser, a side he wasn’t use to seeing before.
Nora moved Vinn’s hand off of her shoulder and looked at him with a frustrated face. “No, I am not going to go sit down Vinn. I believe that she deserves whatever I’m going to say to her! We’ve been nothing but nice to her since we walked through that front entrance, Jing especially. If she wants seven hundred dollars I’m sure her friends down at the local unemployment office can assist her in finding another job.”
“That was way harsh, Nor.” Vinn’s lip quivered with all the nervousness he was feeling throughout his body. He looked over at Jing. His face read, Please, dude, come help. Do something.
“I doubt that was harsh to her Vinn,” Nora coldly responded back, playfully tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. “If anything, I think, no, I know that she’s had a rough life. So she’s taking it out on whoever she thinks she can stomp over.” Her eyes glared at Chris. “Well, you know what? Your stomp session stops here. We're not going to take it.”

[Aubs]

“A high paying job you say?” Janelle asked, perking up some. While stripping wasn’t exactly her cup of tea, she found herself coming back to it only for one thing, the money. She could definitely see that Lightning knew just how important the money would be to her. “No stripping, huh?” She sighed some to herself. “Truthfully, I don’t even care what the hell it is. If you tell me it’s a high paying job that doesn’t require me taking my clothes off, I’m up for it!” Her eyes glanced over at her car she now stood next to. She took her keys out of her pocket and locked the doors with an automatic lock. She wouldn’t need her car anymore where she was going. “Okay, so you dunces have convinced me. What do I do now?”

[Tusk]

Bear had gotten lost in the confusion that was happening. Many avoided him, but that was to be expected. However the waitress was talking about everyone paying 700 dollars because she got fired for being rude. Not only that, The waitress had managed to set someone off, Nora he gathered, and she was not happy. Derrik sighed as he watched everything going on.
"Enough, please. This is no reason to start a fight. It is hard enough for everyone these days. The demand of Seven Hundred dollars is unreasonable. The fact is, you lost your temper and got yourself in this pradicament. However, I am not going to get in a flight or train anymore. Here, "
He took out near 200 dollars in twenties. and placed it on the counter next to the waitress.
" Take this and use it to help get you set for another job. "
Bear let out another sigh as he looked to the rest of the group.
" I suggest we head out before we cause anyone else to become upset. "
However he did not move. He waited to see what the others did.

[Vale]

Cyrus smiled at the bear's pacifism.
"He's right really." Cyrus spoke as he quickly glared around the room to see all of the non-mutants staring at the ragtag group of them.

"Well then, A close associate of mine should be in the Sciences Building over in Georgetown. Let's head there, and for the time being---regroup and come up with a plan. I lost contact with one of the other mutants here, that man who first told us to head to DC. It was as if I can't contact him anywhere...which is truly unsettling." Cyrus spoke, meaning to say the last bit to himself, rather than outloud.

"Anyways, let's head back. DC may be a nice city, but it isn't a safe one--for humans and mutants alike." Cyrus spoke as he began to walk to the door.

"Although, Miss Rude Waitress." Cyrus spoke, pulling a pencil off of the wait-station. Smiling, he alchemized the graphite inside of it to become a diamond in the shape of a pencil.

"Better service would have lead to better tips." He spoke, as he gestured to Jing-Mei and Moss to hurry and head out of the Silky Dishtowel. They all had overstayed their welcome.

[GnomesAteMyCake]

"Derrik, you don't have to do that," Jing-Mei said quietly, and funnily enough everyone else went silent as the girl rose to her feet. She looked at Vinn and Nora, who were stood close together and looking angry (Nora) and upset (Vinn).
"I don't mind, Nora. It's fine," she said in a slightly monotonous voice, and pulled out a fistful of notes from her backpack. There was well over the seven hundred she demanded in her closed fist. She trust it at the woman, and smirked inwardly as her eyes widened.
"There's your money. I have a feeling you're going to tell me you don't want it, but here's the deal; if you don't take it, it goes in your cookers in the back, since I don't want it. Sorry that you lost your job, but Nora's got a point. I don't know what your deal is with Mutants, since you clearly don't like us, but we, as people didn't do anything. We'll take the food and coffee," she finished, taking a coffee from the counter and giving to Treya before filling her arms with what else she could carry, "And be on our way. I'm sorry again."

She turned and let out a pent-up breath, and looked at Vinn. She moved her food to her other arm, and squeezed his arm lightly, giving him a small and tired smile. She hated conflict.
"It's ok Vinn. Let's get out of here." She walked briskly out of the diner, with the effect slightly ruined by the fact she was wearing sneakers, and pushed the door open with a tinkle. Jing-Mei was thankful for a small breeze, which teased her hair. She trotted across the road, and collasped on a bench, breathing deeply and setting all their perchases on the seat beside her.
"Hurry up you guys, it's getting cold!" she shouted over to her friends, a large grin on her face. Problem was, it was fake. She was still shaken by her first case of being discriminated by being a mutant. She took a deep sip of her coffee, and sighed as she looked at the money she would have to pay Cyrus back sometime, and she'd thoughtlessly given it away. She looked in the envelope and saw Cyrus' letter, which gave instructions to book some rooms at a local college dormrooms.
"That should be our next course of action," she said to herself thoughtfully, tapping her chin with a finger. "I'm sure Moss, Treya and Tyler are getting tired, though I should really stop treating them like kids. I wonder if we'll get turned away because of who we are...?" She mused as a shadow fell over her. She looked up to see Vinn. Probably came over for his food, she thought. She giggled lightly, and moved over so he could sit down.
"Sorry. I was just talking to myself, planning our next move and whatnot," she said, blushing slightly.

[Weremouse]

Treya stood there, shaking a little, as the scene unfolded. She just watched - she had no TV at home and usually got on well with people, so she hadn't really seen this type of fight before, hence her not knowing what to do. Jing mei thrusted a bunch of money at their waitress - Treya wasn't short on money either, but she had never seen so much of it in it's raw, paper form. She fingered a credit card in her pocket, debating weather to insist Jing mei allow her to pay for at least her own food, but decided that anger was running too high here, so she stuffed it further into her jeans pocket. As Jing handed her a coffee, Treya decided that now was a good time for comic relief, or at least some sort of distraction. The last thing they needed was an angry Nora ranting outside for hours on end. She took a sip of her drink, trying to decide how she'd lighten the mood. Almost instantly, every part of her began to shake - like the beginning of a tornado trying to burst out of her body. She felt surprisingly calm - everyone else almost seemed to slow down. It was very relaxing. She took another sip and realized the drink was cold - not delicious, but not terrible either. She then realized that the drink was spilling everywhere, she couldn't keep her hands still. She decided to chug it - might as well get it off her hands as fast as possible, before she totally ruined her new clothes. Not that it mattered much to her, but being covered in stickiness wasn't her idea of a great time. Gulping down the coffee, she stuck it on the table saying:
"Well I think we can just leave the coffee behind now."

No one responded. She decided to repeat herself, but louder.

"WELL I THINK WE CAN JUST LEAVE THE COFFEE BEHIND NOW." she bellowed, slightly frustrated. Nobody even moved. She stared at everyone in the restaurant. They seemed nearly frozen. She then saw Nora move slowly. She looked like she might be 'preparing' to say something. Treya leaned forward. Nora's lips began moving, SO SLOWLY. Treya looked around to see if anyone was understanding her, everyone seemed to be listening. Bored, Treya got up. Nobody yelled at her, or even seemed to notice her. Moss's gaze flickered to where Treya stood for a second, but moved back to Nora quickly. Treya continued walking towards the kitchen. The clock caught her gaze. The second hand moved. She stared at it for a long time. Many "Mississippi's" passed.
Maybe it's broken? she thought, just as it moved again, about 55 mississippi's later.
Maybe the second hand is actually the minute hand for some reason?
Then it hit her. The coffee had sped her up so much (and she was already pretty sped up) that the rest of the world had sped DOWN. She tried to think of ways to make herself slow down, but she could only think of waiting. She was kinda hungry, actually, so she went over to a waitress and grabbed a sandwich off of her tray. They HAD payed about 680$ more than they should have, so why not take extra food? She gobbled it down greedily, and as she finished, the waitress began to move (slowly) over to where the sandwich was supposed to go. Treya felt a little guilty for a second, but brushed the feeling off. She went to go sit down, and noticed that everyone was staring at her in shock. She sat down, and everyone shook their heads (slowly) and seemed to shake the feeling. Someone asked her something, but it was too slow and deep to understand. Treya grabbed a pen from her pocket and wrote on a napkin:
"Can't understand you. Too slow. Talk fast. Coffee sped me up."

[Weremouse]

"Now, you go to the President." Aurora said, meanwhile entering the limousine and told the chauffeur to head to the White House. She beckoned for Snow and Lightning to enter the limo, as well, and tried to think of something to keep the (now ex-) stripper entertained. She came up with nothing and vanished instantly.

(OOC: Terrible, short post, but I imagine we gotta get the bad guys going before the good guys can do nothin'.)

[Aubs]

Nora sighed to herself, slowly swiping strands of her platinum hair out of her grey eyes. She felt slightly bad for having carried on a scene like that with the brash waitress, but lately she hadn’t been in control of any her actions. She had gotten a rush out of saying what she thought. As the eyes of the group stare longingly at her, then toward the waitress, Nora watched as members of her group preceded to hand the woman more money than what she’d asked for. This aggravated Nora. “So what I said was basically just a waste of words,” she acknowledged, sending a cold glare over to Chris’ direction. “I’m sorry, but there’s just no way she deserves that money. She’s done nothing but be rude to us the entire time we’ve been here.
“I don’t mind, Nora. It’s fine,” Jing-Mei spoke as she pulled out a wad of money and handed it over. “There’s your money,” The girl spoke, Nora could see the nervousness on her face.
Vinn paused in place. He didn’t know what to say, so he silently swallowed the spit in his mouth out of fear someone would yell at him.
“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me you don’t want it, but here’s the deal; if you don’t take it, it goes to your cookers in the back, since I don’t want it.”
“She’s going to take it,” Nora responded, still pouting. She tried to read the thoughts of the woman, but she had no luck. This was a first. Even when Nora didn’t want to read a mind she did, but with this girl is was nothing. Emptiness. And not like the Vinn emptiness where she knew he simply wasn’t thinking, this emptiness seemed much more forced. Hmmm… That’s weird. She folded her arms across her chest, looking over toward Jaya who seemed to be fidgeting
“Sorry that you lost your Job,” Jing continued. “But, Nora’s got a point. I don’t know what your deal is with Mutants, since you clearly don’t like us, but we, as people didn’t do anything. We’ll take the food and coffee.” She began gathering up the food and her things. “And be on our way.” She finished, calling Vinn to follow after her.

“Coming dude.” Vinn announced aloud, soon running after Jing. “This day can’t get any more hectic.”
“You’re telling me.” Nora spoke, looking for the others in her group. She saw that Moss had already followed after Jing. There wasn’t any need to worry for her as she was always on Jing’s coat tails. “Tyler, Keegan, Trey-” Nora paused, as she scanned around for the orange headed girl that had been the easiest to spot. A gust of wind burst past Nora, giving her quite the set of goosebumps. She turned to then see everyone in the diner’s heads turned toward a certain direction. Nora moved over closer and by the looks of things saw Treya. At least it looked like Treya. “Oh. My. God. Treya, what happened!?” She panicked, biting down on her lip nervously.
The fast moving Treya soon wrote on a napkin, “Can’t understand you. Too slow. Talk fast. Coffee sped me up.”
Nora sighed. “Does anyone have a slight idea what we should do? I’ve never even encountered something like this before. God Treya, why’d you have to order the coffee?”
I’m going to regret doing this, but I have to at least it first. Nora thought, focusing her mind on where Treya was sitting. Maybe I can puncture through and get to her mind…’ Within seconds, Nora got something.

Treya, can you hear me? It’s Nora.


Outside with the others, Vinn took a seat next to Jing-Mei. “That was a doozy. There sure has been a lot going on since we all got together.” Vinn tried to muster up a smile, but couldn’t. “Something’s really bothering Nora dude. I can see it in her eyes, ya know. I don’t know what we should do about it though, cause she kinda scared me out of my mind earlier.” He took his dreads out of the ponytail they had been in and let them fly loose in the wind. “Do you think there’s enough room at the university for us to stay? I’m worried they’ll shut us out or something.”

[Aubs]

“The President?” Janelle spoke with unease.

After hours of being informed of what she had now put herself into, Janelle felt a bit of excitement. Here she had been stripping for all these years when she could have settled for having the sweet life like the three before her. After all the years of being a hero, saving people when they needed help, Janelle was ready to transition over to another side. The villains. “So let me get this straight,” she spoke, tossing her hair over on her right shoulder as her eyes focused on the three faces before her. “You,” she said mentioning Aurora. “Work for the President. And the two of you,” She looked at Lighting and Snow. “Have been hired by him from the secret organization ya’ll are in? This is seriously some badass shit right here!” Janelle exclaimed at the top of her lungs. A smirk formed on her face as she shook her head. “Wow… and I would’ve thought the three of ya’ll needed medical attention, but now as I believe every word that comes out of your mouths.”

The car phone to the limo rang. On the phone had been the President.
“Ms. Naminer, it’s for you.” The driver said, transferring the call back to the speakerphone in the back.

“Aurora,” President Pearson’s voice came on, announcing throughout the whole care. “Status report? Have you obtained Ms. Isaacs?”
“They have.” Janelle spoke out, letting her presence be known.
“Excellent.” The husky voice of the president replied. “Now, I need you four to head back here. I have another task for you all.”

The President hung up from their call and then proceeded to call another number. After listening to the phone ring, he seemed to have got the machine instead. Damn, well… I’ll leave a message.
“Hello, Vincent Maxwell. It’s your old friend, Gregory Pearson. I called because I have a proposition for you that you wouldn't want to turn down.” He stopped before finally saying, “Trust me…”
If this went right, the President would slowly begin his plan for controlling the world. He rhythmically played his fingers across his desk of his office.

[Vale]

"Well ....dude....I'm sure I can make the reservations. Although..." A voice was heard through the shadows as Cyrus made himself appear again. "I do still hold sway with many of the Directors there."

"And I told you before Jing-Mei..." His voice becoming slightly stern, "the money is for you two. Not....well, it doesn't matter." Cyrus spoke, as he picked up some dirt and compressed his hands together, creating a handful of diamonds. "I'm practically a Fort Knox..." He chuckled remembering his actions earlier in the day at the Maximum Security Treasury. It didn't stop the man, nor did it stop Cyrus, or for that matter....that stranger...the old man.

Looking back around at the group, Cyrus's mind began to shift.

Packs grow in size, just as often as they shrink. There can be only one Alpha, and none of these kids can carry themselves without some help..... Cyrus thought as he noticed the very large Bear-Like Human, well...a sentient bear anyways.

"I wouldn't recommend standing around like this. The faster we get to Georgetown the better. The streets aren't that safe for people like us." Cyrus spoke, as he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise.

"Now..." His voice almost turned into a growl.

[Tusk]

Bear looked at Cyrus after his almost growl. His eyes seemed to take everything in. A large group of mutants would defenatly be suspicious, however two groups would be easier to move, quicker, and less suspicious. He Began to think more and more.
" Cyrus was it? I suggest you take a group and I take a group. If we split up, we can move faster and there will be less chance of us being followed since they would have to follwo two groups instead of one. Though I would rather avoid a fight, I can easily provide better protection to a smaller group than a larger one. Besides I have the feeling we are already being watched. It seems that whoever is watching does not wish to be seen. "

He stood Ontop a building with a sniper rifle aimed right at the group. As he looked through the scope, he noticed that the group had gotten larger. Thanls to a nearby cellphone, he knew they were heading to Georgetown. Daven kept watch and decided it best to show himself at Georgetown. He had found out nothing and still was not sure if he was being followed. How he fell in such an obvious trap was beyond him, but at least he was out of there.

[Vale]

Cyrus could smell him. The oily smell of someone with far too much technology integrated into him and around him. He was suppossed to meet him outside the President's House yesterday, even before he left for Fort Knox, but he stood him up.

"I agree Bear. Jing Mei, Moss, that Energetic One (Treya), and that tall quiet guy (Tyler) will come with me. You take the others. Stick to alleyways and side-streets. Avoid anything which would compromise your location, or above that...abilities." Cyrus spoke, flipping his hair a bit. "Let's move, Georgetown is in the Northeast of where we are. You head East then north, I'll go north than east. Meet outside of the Library in the Quad. Let's go." Cyrus spoke, turning to Jing, Moss, Treya, and Tyler.

"Jing, Moss, you two...come with me, we're moving out." Cyrus spoke, his gruff exterior showing slightly.

[GnomesAteMyCake]

Jing-Mei watched Nora, concerned as she took a sip of her coffee, and turned slightly to Vinn, who'd let his hair down in the literal sense. Looks better down, she thought absently, her cheeks reddening slightly as she tried to get her head back in the game.
"I'm sure she'll be fine. But I am wondering what that phonecall was about before. I'll give her my phone-number, so if she takes off, we can call her," she said softly, watching as everyone else began to approach. She still felt slightly shaken up by the way that the waitress, Christmas had treated them. She felt that she had to talk to someone, and luckily someone was right next to her.
"Hey Vinn?" she said quietly, gripping her cup tightly in her hands, looking down at her hands. "Do...do you think that loads will treat us like that? It's just- that kinda hurt..."
She would have gone on, but Cyrus approached with the others. It was maybe a good thing; no doubt she would have ended up crying on Vinn's shoulder, which would possibly be a bit too messy.

She watched as Cyrus told her that she didn't need to pay him back, then shocked her by reaching down and grabbing some gravel which he then transformed into diamonds. Gulping, she looked up at him.
"B-b-but it's the right thing to do, paying you back..." she said weakly, her voice squeaking slightly as she watched him throw the diamonds away. She watched them all as they fell to the ground. "I like your power, Cyrus..." She then smiled, and shrugged; money was nice, but there were more important things.

Bear approached as Cyrus told them that they should be moving. Maybe was shaken slightly by the way that they'd been booted from the Diner, or he was picking up on how everyone else might've been feeling. Eitherway, she felt the same; they should get off the streets before they attracted the wrong sort of attension. The two men dicided a course of action, which Jing-Mei had no problem following the rules; she was fine doing things for herself, but she didn't like having to provide for groups, incase she did something wrong or put them in danger. She would be going with Cyrus, Moss, Treya and Tyler, which she was fine with, though she would've liked to have continued talking with Vinn. She looked at him and smiled ruefully.

"Can we finish this later?" she asked shyly, pulling a felt-pen from her backpack and writing her phone number on the back of Vinn's hand. "Give me a call if anything happens, ok? Absolutely anything, I'll wanna know all you guys are safe." She stood up and beckoned Moss, Tyler and Treya over to her. Treya was still being all sped up from the coffee, so she pulled her drawing book from her bag and wrote, "We're going with Cyrus, follow us, okay?" On it, and held it up to the girl. She smiled, and looked a Vinn one last time.
"Be careful," she said seriously, then addressed Bear aswell. "Don't take any chances. Anything suspicious and go straight the rendevous point. Ring me and then we'll come to you. See ya!" she finished lightly, and jogged to catch up with Cyrus.
"So where we going, Chief?" she asked, linking her hands together behind her back as she fell into step with him.

[Vale]

"Georgetown is a decent place. I miss Boston." He spoke softly, making sure that unless someone was reading his mind, was barely audible.

"Someone's tailing us, or they were...I'm not quite sure who it is specifically, but I could feel it. They were stalking us all in the shadows, apparently that Bear sensed it as well." He spoke, his pace not slowing at all. "I think the others will be fine with him. His senses are at least on par with mine, maybe moreso, I'm just not sure what else there is out here...." Cyrus spoke, still his mind racing a mile a minute.

Cyrus hoped, at least for everyone's safety that they weren't going to run into any other people trying to spread Christmas joy and compassion like that waitress. Even by just stepping in and meeting her for the first time--he hated her. Or maybe it was just a carnal fear, something to protect others like him...but if that was the case, why did he have no compassion for the rest of them? Just those weaker---Jing, Moss, and the other two...Treya? Tyler? Maybe their powers would manifest in a stronger means, maybe there would be a time when he didn't have to carry them. They're not young pups, they were already so brave even before meeting them.

Power....such a funny notion? There's nothing beautiful about what I am...

[GnomesAteMyCake]

Because she was walking right next to him, Jing-Mei heard the small whisper that Cyrus came out with. She smiled quietly to herself, but refrained from speaking to him about it; it was a private thought, and it would more than likely embarrass Cyrus if he knew that she heard him.

Jing-Mei hung onto Cyrus' every word as he told her that he and the Bear, Derrik, had felt some sort of disturbance, and a chill instantly went down her spine. It frightened her greatly to think that someone had been watching her and her friends as they'd been walking, talking...
And she hadn't noticed a thing. They could've all been dead by now if that person was out to get all mutants.
She shuddered and cuddled her arms to her chest, rubbing them to dispell the goosebumps that were errupting up and down them.

"Good thing that we've got you then, Cyrus. I didn't sense a thing," she said quietly, voicing her fears. She looked behind her. "Moss, Tyler, keep close, yeah? Don't lag. And where's Treya?" She said, looking for a blur of orange hair around them. She sighed, pulled her notebook from her bag along with a thick black pen, and scrawled "Treya, please stick close! Your coffee buzz will wear off soon, then you'll be tired. Don't waste all that energy now!" and clipped the message to the strap of her bag, so that if Treya was around, then she would see it.

"Hey Cyrus? How's about we go to those dorm-rooms you mentioned before? We've been travelling for hours, and I bet that the others'll be tired when they catch up," she said sweetly, smiling at the man. She had a sneaky suspicion that Cyrus was pretty tired aswell, though no doubt if she addressed it, he'd say he was perfectly fine and have them walking till dusk. "I'm pretty tired too, and we'd be off the streets. Pretty good idea, huh?"