Framing A Moose

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

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Iris Rivers

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Location: Kitchen
Skills:

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Iris pulled her head back in surprise when Beth immediately went off on her. She knew the girl was a bit of a grump, but she had assumed she'd have had a longer fuse. Iris had heard about the Chitauri invasion, though not in any great detail. All she had heard was some aliens attacked New York, and a lot of people died, a single-sentence summary that had been given by the guy who ran the general store her mom and her often resupplied at. Iris opened her mouth to reply to Bethany, but before she could, the girl vanished. Iris' lips clamped closed in what was neither a smile nor a frown, though it quickly shifted to her normal up-to-something grin when Annie carried on with Beth's explanation in her normal, sweetly spoken manner.

"Huh...I sort of always assumed that Thor guy was just, like, really into his character," she commented, giving a half shrug, before her eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, if we know that those gods are real, why do other religions still exist?" As she asked the question her eyes flicked between Lance and Annie, hoping one of them would have something to say on the topic. As her gaze switched between them, her eyes eventually caught sight of Lance's arm, with green crawling up it. She tried not to visibly react, but she forced her breath to slow, taking deep, steady breaths, much like the ones used in her breathing exercises with the boy, in an effort to help him stay calm.

The Gifted - Concluded

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Waverley Watts - Feedback

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Location: George Washington University
Skills: Perception, Pop Culture (failed)

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"Uh...shitty plastic and cheap metal?" Waverley answered, not understanding the rhetorical nature of Polaris' question or why she was asking it. To be perfectly honest, it annoyed her to no end when the well-groomed white girl tried to use black history against her, but she did her best to keep it from showing. The women seemed plenty confident in her ability to take them all on alone, and confidence that strong is rarely unfounded. Not to mention that the woman's attitude had become less aggressive, and Waverley didn't want to risk changing that. A look of confusion fixed itself on her face as she tried to puzzle out the why Polaris had decided to interrupt the fight with a trivia question about cars, though that question immediately left her mind when she opened the car door to find that it was a good thirty feet off the ground and was rising fast.

She let out a screech as she quickly slammed the door shut, grabbing onto the steering wheel for dear life. As the car rose, getting farther and farther from the streets, where cars were supposed to be, she could feel the familiar feeling of her heart banging against her ribcage. Her head whirled panicking from window to window, looking for some sort of help. Unfortunately the help that appeared first was her enemy, floating before her with an outstretched hand. Waverley stared at it, before looking down to the ground. She saw a number of her allies trying and failing to get to her, and it caused her heart to beat all the faster. This was a decision she'd have to make alone. She looked back to Polaris, and gulped.

"If the Underground is a band-aid, your little society is a DIY amputation," she yelled at Polaris. There was passion in her voice, though it was overshadowed by fear. If she were being honest with herself, the primary reason she was talking was to stall, in hopes that a third option would arrive. "You're leaving our people behind to rot! Running away won't stop mutant kids from being born and killed here in America!" As she spoke, she could feel the panic building up inside her. If she didn't get herself out of the car fast, she knew it wouldn't be long before she cracked and took her enemy's help. So, hands shaking, she opened up her door, shifting her feet out to the very edge. She dug her nails into the top of the car, her body jutting out, staring down as she tried to gather her courage.

"There's no fast-acting antidote for bigotry. Believe me, I wish there was. I wish we could buy California and ship all the mutants to go chill in fucking Yosemite, but that's not how we save our people. The real way to get equality is by standing our ground, and making sure we're heard. And I agree, the Underground could be doing so much more. But it's got good people, a good heart, and good intentions as its foundation. That's all you need to change the world. And if what you say is true, if you really did lead the Underground, then at one point you knew that too." Waverley nervously chewed on her lip as her gaze shifted back downward. If she threw herself just right, she could probably get close enough to the flying girl to grab on. Still, even as she planned, she was on the verge of a breakdown. She sent a silent prayer for protection upward. "I-I'm gonna jump now. I'm gonna jump because I'm a gullible idiot who still believes in God, goodness, and the power of fucking friendship motherfucker!" she cried out, unclamping her fingers and letting her weight pull her forward. Her plan to aim for Kristina was promptly squashed, for as soon as Waverley let go of the car, she clamped her eyes close in absolute panic. There were no coherent thoughts going through her head, only pure, unadulterated fear. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she plummeted towards the world below.

Forgotten Space

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Location: Atrium -> Galley
Skills:

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"Shit, that's a shame," Cal replied when Manny displayed his sentimental item, which was, to her displeasure, not a pack of cigarettes. She flexed her fingers once again, finally finding contentment in shoving them in her pockets, lightly tracing the edges of the items that filled them. Her glance, which shifted between looking at the people around her and looking into the water where Luke had jumped in, was snatched away by Vinnie when she began her rant. Cal's lips were pursed into a small, uncertain frown as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Her own comment on the issue had been a throwaway one, not really caring one way or the other, so she certainly wasn't expecting Vinnie to go off on her. "Right then...uh, my bad, I guess?" she said, though it didn't seem at all genuine, and more like she just wanted to move onto a different topic. Unfortunately for her, that different topic was Luke, being dragged onto shore with the mobility of a lifeless piece of wet meat. She watched with worry as Sophia rushed over to him, trying to revive him. Luckily, it only took a few moments before Luke she managed to do so, which caused Cal to let out a sigh of relief. The relief didn't last, as immediately after he was out of harms way, Zarina began to speak. At first, Cal didn't realize that the words were directed at her. But after a few moments, her mind processed the words and her heart sank. Even as the girl unraveled Cal's supposed history, it did nothing to unclog her memory. But it fit. It fit like a jigsaw piece she didn't want to be part of the puzzle because it turned the whole picture into something horrible. The piercings, the tattoos, the youth, the attitude. None of them fit with a pharmacist. But all of them fit a drug dealer. She was quiet for a few moments, before shaking her head.

"Listen kid, I think you've made a mistake...that didn't spark anything, not a memory, not a feeling, not nothing...someone should get Luke a blanket. I'm gonna get myself a smoke." With that, she briskly walked passed Zarina and out the room. What she had said had been mostly true. She didn't have any memories about anything that Zarina had said. But what she did have was a pit the size of a boulder resting in her stomach, accompanied by a deep sorrow she couldn't explain. And she didn't want to explain it either. She just wanted to get out of her head. Despite this desire, thoughts, both coherent and incoherent, bounced around her head. When she got into the galley, Raynor was the last one in there, and she made sure to put a decent amount of distance between him and herself. When she got to the dispenser, she began to scroll through it. As she did, she began to speak. "The kid's in the atrium. Don't let her get into the water again, yeah? Luke, that fit guy with the American accent, he almost died in there, and he seems like he's got loads more experience than the kid's got. Speakin' of which, I'm sure he'd appreciate if you grabbed him a blanket on your way back." Her voice was low, but loud enough for the man to hear. As she finished up tapping, two items got dropped out of the machine: A pack of cigarettes and a rather fanciful lighter. She unceremoniously nabbed the two of them up, bumping out a cigarette and putting it between her lips. As soon as it got there, she knew it wasn't going to be a great smoke, but it would have to do. Lighting the end, she took a deep breath in, inhaling the smoke.

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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Waverley Watts

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Location: New Rome - Coffee Shop
Skills:

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Waverley's body somehow went more tense than it already was when Madalyne invited her over. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She didn't really know what to say. Perhaps in search of some sort of guidance or backup, she turned to look at Emily, only to find the older girl already walking towards the table. Waverley cautiously followed behind, nervously nibbling on the tip of the straw poking out of her beverage. She kept her place standing behind Emily as the praetors and Niah explained why they asked them over. As they did, Waverley slowly shuffled out from behind Emily, realizing she wasn't in any sort of trouble. Most of the words that left their mouths went over her head. She didn't know what the pit was (though it did sound ominous), nor did she know what the Prophesy of the Seven was, and her knowledge on Titans and Giants was limited. But she did recognize one name.

"Atlas? Like the-" she began, but instead of articulating it into words, she raised her hands above her head in what she had intended to be representation of holding the sky up, but looked more like a really awkward dancer raising the roof. The story she'd always heard about Atlas was that holding the heavens up was a responsibility, not a punishment. It hurt her optimism a bit to hear otherwise. When Emily sat down, it didn't take long for Waverley to realize she was the last one standing. Naturally, that fact made her uncomfortable, but seeing as there were no seats left around the praetor's table, she resolved to awkwardly squatting to meet the eye level of the others. "Huh. I...didn't know he was real." She hesitated a moment, trying to decide whether she should disclose the fact that she'd been eavesdropping on them. Having only heard a bit of their past conversation, she assumed New York had something to do with Atlas. After a few moments, she continued. "I heard you guys mention New York. Is that where Atlas is? Is he, like, secretly the Empire State Building? That...that'd be cool. God, I really hope that's the case. Uh, anyway, I'm asking because I've actually been there before, so I can recommend all the best cheap hotels and hole-in-the-wall restaurants and stuff, if we need, like, a tour guide or something," she offered, unaware that, even if they had needed knowledge of the city for the mission, what she knew from travelling through the city would likely have been trumped by Marco's experience living there.

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

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Iris Rivers

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Location: Kitchen
Skills:

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Iris didn't try in the slightest to hide her grin as Annie nabbed a small handful of her pecans. She'd made them to share, so if they ended up being a total bust, it'd be kind of a bummer. She turned her back on Annie and Beth, opening and closing a few cupboards. She still wasn't used to the size of the mansion, and, for the most part, hadn't a clue where things went. Eventually, when she couldn't find a bowl, she settled on grabbing out a random coffee mug, which she proceeded to fill with the candied pecans. As she did so, she glanced up to see Lance. When he asked what was going on, she took out her joint and held out the mug full of pecans to him.

"Not much, just candied pecans. Want some?" she offered before realizing his attention was more on the strange mystery package rather than her culinary masterpiece. She pulled the mug back a little, but not so much that people would be uncomfortable taking some of the pecans. "Oh, and Beth has a weird box." When Beth pulled a letter out of the box, Iris raised an eyebrow, watching as the letter passed from hand to hand. When it eventually landed in hers, she read it. When she did, she couldn't help but break out into a mischievous smile.

"Oh man, Mira's gonna be pissed," Iris commented, a throaty chuckle spilling from her mouth. The name 'Loki' was familiar to her, though she only knew he was the Norse god of mischief, not that he was a supervillain, or even real. "So do we know who this Loki guy is? Not the actual god, I presume. And what's a Jumanji? Is it like Monopoly, because I should probably tell y'all that I've never played. I mean, I try, but every time I just end up playing make believe with the pieces. The Monopoly dog's name is Nina, by the way, and she likes to shit in her elderly owner's ferns. In case anyone ever wondered."

Forgotten Space

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Location: Atrium
Skills:

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"That's right," Cal said when Manny and Sophia voiced their agreement, though it sounded to her as though it was less out of passion or loyalty and more out of analysis. Not that it mattered much to her; as long they were defending her, she'd put them down as allies. Though Manny didn't particularly strike her as friend material. In fact, she wasn't sure she could picture Manny being friends with anyone. She let out a sigh as she dropped her hands back to her side. "We shouldn't throw stones 'till we figure out what our houses are made of, yeah?" Now that she was out of immediate danger, she glanced over to the exit of the atrium. Part of her wanted to go check up on the little weirdo, but that part was stopped by her conscious mind. The kid probably didn't want to see her, though she couldn't work out why. Not to mention her fast friendship with Ted Bundy Jr., who Cal was sure would not hesitate to make good on his threats. When Sophia asked about skills, Cal turned her attention back on her. Vinnie, though, as helpful as ever, decided insulting her was a better use of her time than putting her own skills forward.

"Oh, fuck off. No one looks good in hats. They were only invented to keep ancient helmetsmiths in business during times of peace," she snarled, jutting her head out at Vinnie like an animal trying to intimidate an oncoming predator. The defensive stance didn't last long as she pulled her head back, her toothy frown fading as she looked back to Sophia. "Other than my medical knowledge? I'm not completely sure, to be honest. I think I'm good with people...well, relating to them at least. Reading them, feeling what they might be feeling. And I'm good under stress, though Miss ADD over there is testing that one." Cal decided it would be best to leave out the little bit of her brain devoted to constantly spinning out lies. Trust wasn't exactly something she had an abundance of, and revealing that her head was a deceit factory wasn't going to help. Her lips curled into a frown as she let out a huff, her fingers flexing. "Was anyone's sentimental bedside gift a pack of ciggies by chance, because I could fuckin' go for a smoke."

The Gifted - Concluded

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Waverley Watts - Feedback

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Location: George Washington University
Skills: Hiding

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"I'll be sure to add it to the battle playlist," Waverley said in response to Echo's comment. Technically speaking there wasn't an actual battle playlist, but that was going to change as soon as she got back to the Underground. She'd have to get everyone's suggestions, though it might be best to wait to ask Cayden and the M-pox victims until they were all feeling better. Waverley's expression changed, though, when the more reasonable-seeming of their enemies gave a vague explanation of what the Hellfire Club had in store. "Wait, a society of mutants? That's your plan?" Waverley asked. She tilted her head, and though she didn't lower her bat, there was a moment of hesitation that flashed across her face as she thought about it. After a moment though, she shook her head, her expression befuddled. "Do you...do you take feedback? Because I don't think that's a very good idea. I mean, you do know what societies do, right? They fight other societies. A place where every citizen is only a few training sessions away from being a weapon of mass destruction...when your little homeland eventually wages war, which all societies eventually do, it won't be pretty for anyone." As she spoke, her words came it a little timid and uncertain, but even so they rung clear through the air. After she finished speaking she tensed back up, remembering they were in a battle. As she tried to decide which of the members of this so called 'Hellfire Club' (how they could think their the good guys with a name like that she couldn't figure out), she saw Sapphire step out of the Starbucks, throwing a number of ice attacks at the fire guy. What ensued was like something out of an anime, with fire and ice colliding in the middle of the street, and the blonde goon being barraged by a number of lasers, one of which ended up sending her to the ground.

In all the chaos, Waverley scanned the battlefield, looking for a way to be useful. She wasn't confident enough in her newly found ability to use in the chaos of battle. Hell, so far it only had a 66% success rate when it came to people standing still. After a few seconds, her eyes finally landed on the Hellfire Club's car. She raised her eyebrows, a new idea popping into her head. Using the fight as a distraction, she quietly and quickly made her way towards the vehicle that had been pushed away from the fight. Once she had climbed inside, she looked out the windshield to see Sapphire and Pyro still locked in combat. It seemed like a plenty fair fight, though it looked to her like Pyro was just barely in the lead. So she took it upon herself to even the scale a little bit. After putting on her seatbelt, she stepped down on the gas and the car sped forward, straight at Pyro. She felt the car connect with his body, and as a moment after she hit her mark, she skidded to a stop, hoping the hit would be enough to send him down for the count.

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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Waverley Watts

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Location: New Rome - Coffee Shop
Skills:

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"Greeks?" Waverley inquired when Emily made her first mention of them. She made no attempt to hide her confusion as the older girl attempted to explain the relationship between the Greeks and the Romans to her. Waverley still wasn't very educated in the matters both supernatural and mythical; to be honest, she still hadn't come to terms with the whole multiple gods thing, what with her being raised Christian. Denial helped, though. She didn't think of them as gods, not really. In fact, when referring to them, she'd either call them things like 'the Great Oldies' and 'the Almighty Elderly,' or just gesture wordlessly and vaguely towards the sky. Still, she did her best to follow along with the narrative Emily laid out.

"Wait, hold up, apocalyptic?" Waverley started, her eyebrows furrowed and looking past Emily as she thought. She hesitated for a moment as she tried to work her words out in her head, taking another sip from her iced coffee. "You're telling me that there's a good chance I could be spending my last days on Earth shoveling up elephant shit and cleaning latrines?" She paused for a moment, before beginning to laugh.

"Oh Jesus, I think I owe my dad an apology. I always got pissed when he told me I'd die working under a horse's ass, but he was fucking spot on. Only thing he got wrong was the animal." Waverley exclaimed, her voice too jubilant and grin to wide for someone who was talking about the possible end of days. Her amusement was quickly cut off, however, when Marco's voice rose over the general din of the cafe. "Shit, busted," she muttered under her breath, her body immediately tensing up. There was no doubt in her mind that what was to follow was a scolding for not being at her station digging trenches, so she quickly gathered up her notebook and pencil, shoving them in her bag and readying herself for a hasty escape. Grabbing her remaining coffee and guitar case, throwing the latter over her shoulder, she awkwardly clambered out of her chair, her eyes flitting over to Marco and the girls. "Oh, uh, that's not necessary, I was just on my way back to the trenches. Just, y'know, wanted a coffee break, heh." Her audible gulp was followed by a nervous laugh.

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

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Iris Rivers

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Location: Living Room -> Kitchen
Skills:

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Iris had spent a majority of her teenage years cut off from society, and, as such, she had never really needed to know much about current events. Her mom and her got all the urgent, world-threatening news when they went into town, but for the most part, they let it fly over their heads. Despite now being in the 'civilized world', Iris had, for the most part, kept that habit of ignorance. It wasn't as if she was actively avoiding news from the outside world (with the exception of her father's show). She simply didn't pursue it. As such, she got the gist of the outside happenings from her housemates: some supers in spandex were having a a spat, and there was apparently a new super nation. That was all she knew, and all she needed to know. So how, pray tell, was Iris making use of her free time? Well, for one, she was attempting to somehow sing different classic poems to the tune of Nena's 99 Luftballons as she waited for her candied pecans to finish in the oven.

"Anyone lived in a pretty how town, with up so many floating bells down," she softly sang, her voice a bit offkey and pitchy, her hands lightly bopping down on her bongos which sat snuggly on her lap. It took skill to keep her joint in her mouth as she sang, but it was a skill that she was quite proficient in. A cup of tea sat in front of her, next to her old phone with a timer counting down. It was down to its last few seconds, and as she sang, it went off. She looked down at it, eyebrows furrowed, before a look of recognition dawned on her face. She grabbed her tea, leaving her phone with her bongos as she pranced over to the kitchen. Inside, Annie and Beth stood around something that Iris didn't get a good look at as she stepped inside. She quickly made her way over to the oven, slipping on an oven mitt as she did so. No matter how much time past, she still thought it was bullshit that she was only immune to the heat of her own fire. Popping open the oven, she nabbed out the tray, plopping it down on the counter not to far from where Annie and Beth had hunkered down. Her eyes finally landed on the strange box they were both looking at.

"Cool box. What's in it?" She asked, before taking out her rolled cigarette, picking up a candied pecan and tossing it into her mouth. She waved a hand over it, looking over at the pair. She spoke as she chewed, "Oh, and feel free to take as many as you want."

Forgotten Space

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Location: Atrium
Skills:

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"There's no legal drinkin' age in space, mate," Cal replied to both Kyle and Zari's attempted excuses for her not to drink the liquid, followed by a single-syllable laugh. The laugh faded to a smirk when Sophia gave her point, which caused an unconvinced expression to rest on her face. "I mean, I s'pose so, but do we really want her going back in there? You heard her. She's cold and tired. We should let her rest." As she finished, she felt a sudden absence of the bourbon glass in her hand. Her smirk faded, an annoyed frown taking its place as she watched Raynor down the drink. "Oi, that's not yours arse-" she began, stepping up close to Raynor in an attempt to be intimidating.

Her cursing of the man was interrupted by the green-haired girl behind him, her voice immediately catching Cal's attention. She let her head lean to one side to look past Raynor, looking at Zarina with eyebrows furrowed in confusion. As the kid spoke, Cal shook her head in disbelief. Looking at the girl...she didn't remember or feel anything, other than the protective feeling she'd been trying to cover up since meeting the kid. Was she trying to set Cal up? Was she Crucible-ing her? As the girl ran off, the others were quick to turn on her, with Vinnie going on one of her Vinnie rants and Raynor literally threatening her life. The first instinct that popped into her head was to lie, and deflect their distrust onto Zarina. But that protective instinct held her back, keeping the dishonest words from forming. Instead, she took a step back from Vinnie, raising her hands up defensively.

"What, one shred of doubt and our fast food musical montage means nothing?" Cal said, her voice sounding offended. It wasn't as much an actual defense, and more of a reminder that Vinnie had remembered her. She glanced at the others, trying to gauge their reactions, before her eyes flitted back to Vinnie. "I don't know if you've ever gotten a flu shot, but that can be a traumatic experience for a kid. I probably just jabbed her with a needle wrong, and she never forgave me." she said, before letting out a sigh. "I don't know what the kid's going on about. She doesn't spark any memories or even familiar vibes from me. And to be honest, I care as much about her well-being as the rest of you. More, probably, considering the fact that you fucks let her crawl through a vent to God knows where. Listen, you want to lock me up, mate, then fine. Lock me up. But as soon as you believe that I might be working up for this malicious and mysterious 'Them', you open yourselves up to the possibility that everyone else could be working for 'Them' too. You won't be able to trust a goddamned person here. You won't be gettin' fuckin' anywhere with distrust running that deep. Haven't you ever seen a Red Scare allegory? With that mentality, it won't be long before you rip each other to fuckin' shreds." Her words got quicker and more aggressive as she spoke. When she reached the end of her speech, she shoved out her hands, holding them together, as if offering to let them handcuff her with handcuffs she knew they didn't have. It was more symbolic than anything. "So what's it gonna be? Are you gonna cry witch and throw me in a cell, or are we going to figure this out like adults?"