Framing A Moose

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Some Medical Room in Genosha
Skills: N/A

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"I might have to take you up on that," Waves replied to Andy with a snort, giving one last shake of her bruised knuckles. She winced a little bit when the woman mentioned their things being at her place, specifically the bit about Zari's robots. She knew what was coming even before it came, and within seconds, Zari was chewing out the mystery woman as if she weren't old enough to be her mother. Waverley looked over to Z, deciding it'd be best to try to calm her down before she did something reckless, like, say, punch one of the people who had helped bring them back. "Dude, you're a super genius. There's nothing some kid could do to your robots that you couldn't fix." Ego stroking always worked with Waverley's own genius sister, who had a lot in common with Zari, though admittedly her arrogance was far more prevalent than that of the time travelling Valkyrie. She then looked over to Casper as the glow left his eyes.

"Is there a ghost Hawa-" she began to ask, but her words quickly trailed off as she felt a strange feeling in her knuckles, the disappearing of pain. She looked down, seeing a soft magical hue surrounding her fist. She didn't have to follow it to know whose magic it was, but she did anyway, her eyes landing on Max waggling his fingers away as he worked his magic. Her gaze shifted into a puzzled glare, as if she was trying to figure out a riddle that didn't make any sense. And in a way, she was. She had a picture of Max concrete in her mind, one that was admittedly contradictory, though she didn't like to admit it. She saw him as something both chaotic and conniving, someone who was constantly scheming, always working towards some self-serving goal, but someone who was completely unpredictable, even to himself. So as her eyes burned into him, she tried to discern why it was he healed her, what end did that get him to? Was he just trying to win her over so stabbing her in the back would be easier later? Or was it more complex than that. She pondered on it for a good half a minute, staring at him, before eventually letting out a sigh and breaking the stare. She forced herself to get over her annoyance at not being able to figure out Max's agenda as her gaze fell upon Veil.

"You good to go get our stuff, or do you need a bit more time?" she asked, her voice soft, trying to be comforting.

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Some Medical Room in Genosha
Skills: N/A

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Waverley half expected all the fear to flood back into her as soon as the immediate consequences of her actions reared their ugly head, but even as the menacing man straightened out and released an evil laugh, she couldn't find it in herself to care. A small smile spread across her lips as she realized this, her eyes turning down towards her knuckles. She flexed her hand, gazing at the evidence of bruising that was starting to show. Her stare was broken when she felt the soft hand of Callie, causing her to glance up. She was about to respond to her, when a bright blue glow filled the room, stealing Waverley's attention. Sapphire. Waverley's expression softened, her smile widening, becoming warmer as it did.

"Good work, Sapph. You saved the day," Waverley said, filling the few words with all the sentiment welled up in her for her deceased teammate. She gave the woman a small nod, doing her best to convey that just because she was leaving most of the fussing to the other members of the Underground didn't mean she didn't care. She knew that the others needed the closure more than she did. As soon as Sapphire mentioned her old friends, Waverley gave a nod. "You got it. Kristina can contact her sister, I'll get in touch with the Doc," she promised, reaching to her backpack, only to find it wasn't there. Right, all they had was their weird scifi bodysuits. Lovely. She turned to look at the two older women, purposefully asking them over Nemesis. "Um, do you know where our stuff is? I need my laptop to contact Watts."

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Some Medical Room in Genosha
Skills: Punching Robot eyes on guys named Nemesis

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Waverley flinched as Veil suddenly popped out of existence, using her abilities to shield herself from view. Part of Waves wanted to reach out with her powers, caress the air where Veil had just been to make sure she was still there, but the notion didn't last long. She'd already decided she'd let Echo comfort his sister to avoid crowding her, so it wasn't going to do much good to know she was still there. After a few seconds, her silent stare directed at the empty spot Veil once inhabited was interrupted by a warm hand around hers. She snapped her head in the direction it came from, seeing James looming over her. She let out a breath through her nose, feeling undeniable comfort in his presence. It was strange; her body reacted to James' comfort as much as it did to his powers, so much so that it was hard to tell where one began and the other ended. It was hard to differentiate the relaxing of her muscles from the healing of them. Her insides had a pleasant warmth as they were pulled out of their damaged state. She almost missed his words in the feeling.

"A parade isn't what we need right now," Waverley replied into James' shoulder as his arms wrapped around her, though her words were sharper than she had intended. She let out a deep breath, returning her friend's hug. "Thank you..." her tone was as apologetic as it was grateful. As he stepped away, however, she was met with a new feeling, a feeling spurred on by the doctor's words, insensitive, apathetic.

Waverley wouldn't have normally done what she did. She likely would've glared at him like the others, maybe cussed him out. But...there was something odd in her brain. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say there was something missing: fear. All her life, she lived in horror, worried over every little thing, terrified that any wrong move would end in disaster. It'd gotten more visceral, vivid in her time with the Underground, dealing with actual life and death situations on a regular basis. And it'd all built up to the X-Cutioner. The worst had happened. She'd died, effectively. And here she was. It was like...anxiety afterglow. Bliss. Liberation. There was no fear in her as she stepped off her bed, briskly walking up to Dr. Nemesis and rearing her fist back, slamming it into the side of his face. Pain shot through her fist, the first vibrant feeling she'd had since waking up. It was almost refreshing, feeling the pulse of bruised skin in her fist as she let it drop to her side.

"I don't know what the fuck that was supposed to mean, but if you talk about anyone in the Underground like that again, there won't be a council in the world that'll be able to save you," Waverley threatened. It was true, Sapphire and her hadn't exactly been friends, but they'd still been family. And no one talks about family like that.

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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Location: Apollo Cabin
Skills:

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"I'm a bureaucrat, Ms. Isley. Most of my strength lies in the pen rather than the sword," Leandra said, though the statement was only partly true. She was a fighter, but she'd found that her strengths were most powerful when she was underestimated, so she didn't mind understating her role in New Rome. "I was calling for a tactical retreat. I was loving Team BureauCat as much as you, but I thought the battle would end with less injuries had we the aid of more warriors, perhaps even a plan. And inventory is the lifeblood of any organized institution. Back at New Rome, keeping a close eye on it was part of my job. I've made an effort to do so here as well. You can never be too careful." With that, Leandra exhaled a breath from her nose, letting any desire to engage slip away with it. She let her eyes glide back over to Alexandra, giving her a nod.

"Yes, of course. You can always just...come get me," Leandra stated, letting out a small sigh at the words. She so dearly longed for the days back home when the scheduled appointments and meetings outweighed the "I'll find you when I need you"s that Camp Half Blood seemed to inspire in its residents, even the new Roman ones. "Anywhom, I'm going to fetch myself some breakfast. Would you like me to grab you anything? Or have you already eaten? I know it's a cliche, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Also, erm..." she reached her finger under the neck of her shirt, poking it through the bloody hole. "Is that a no on the top?"

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Some Medical Room in Genosha
Skills:

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"Ungh," Waverley grunted as she used her weak arms to push herself up into a sitting position, letting her feet dangle off the side of the bed, bare toes gently touching the cold tile floor. She sat slouched forward, finding herself without the excess energy to sit up straight. Her eyes caught the face of an older woman stepping away from Casper, and the words she spoke made Waverley visibly shudder with relief. She let out a stuttering sigh, one that sounded almost like a tired laugh as she let her head hang limply forward. "Good, good, that's...that's amazing. I was afraid that...y'know..." she mumbled, trailing off. As she saw Sunshine come near, she shifted a bit in her seat to make room for the girl, only to watch as she walked past her to stand instead at the foot of Max's bed. Max, of all people. She'd thought that her and Sunshine were on the same page about that boy, she thought she shared her loathing. And she at the very least thought that perhaps the girl who Waverley seemed to be in a perpetual panic attack over trying to care for would at least stop by to see if she was okay. She had to admit that it shattered her a little inside to see her friend swept up into the arms of the guy who killed her mother. But this pain was almost immediately made trite and inconsequential when, only a few yards away, James disclosed the fate of Sapphire to Veil.

"Fuck..." Waverley couldn't help but mutter, her eyes going wide and wet despite her physical exhaustion. She gulped back the lump that began to rise in her throat. She was quiet for a few moments, before she lifted her head looking to Veil, her eyes soft, eyebrows furrowed in sympathy. She hadn't been all that close to Sapphire herself. She'd respected the woman, but she never elevated from 'boss' to 'boss and friend' the way Veil had. There was always that chill wall she put up that Waves never found the nerve to crack. But she knew that her and Veil were close, and she wanted more than anything to make this as she could for her. That said, she wasn't sure she was the best person to comfort Veil - she cared about the woman deeply, and the two were friends, but she didn't have the same history with her as Callie did, much less Echo. So instead, she did her best to shoulder the burden of...everything that was happening to allow Veil more mental capacity to mourn. She turned towards the older woman from before, the one who had been caring for Casper, and began to speak. "I...I think it would be better if we had some time to...process and heal. This is...this is a lot. Is she...here somewhere?" As Waverley asked about Sapphire's remains, she couldn't help but feel a small gnawing suspicion in her stomach, but with everything happening so suddenly, she didn't have the mind to give it any substance, and it remained a feeling rather than a thought.

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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Location: Apollo Cabin
Skills:

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Leandra continued to hold her shirt to the side for Alexandra as she came over with needle and thread, leaning down to close the distance between her and the wound. As she felt the needle pierce her skin, she let her eyes drift up to the medical supplies off a few yards away. Her mind went into overdrive, immediately looking for any equipment Alexandra and her co-medics might not have in stock. She was pulled out of her mind when Alexandra spoke, causing Leandra's eyes to dart down towards hers.

"Oh, yes, yes I did. I tied it to an arrow, hoping to give the creature a taste of its own medicine, but unfortunately it missed. Had it hit, it would've been one for the books, let me tell you," Leandra said with a small chuckle, lips twisted up in a smirk. When the oracle pulled back, the job done, Leandra slipped her sleeve back over her shoulder. She graciously took the nectar from Alexandra, sipping a mouthful, letting the taste of expensive French champagne fill her mouth, the phantom bubbles prickling softly at her tongue and down her throat. "Lovely...Now while I'm here, Alexandra, is there anything you need in terms of supplies or equipment you don't have or are running low on here?" As soon as she was patched up, Leandra hopped right back into her mama lion business mode, looking down to pull out her notebook, only to quickly catch sight of the bright red hole left in her shirt. "Oh and...you wouldn't happen to have an extra top I could borrow, would you? I'm not sure blood-soaked chic is really my style..."

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Heaven??? -> Wait, no, it's just a lab
Skills:

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Waverley Watts considered herself to be well acquainted with fear. She'd carried it in varying quantities with her all her life. But she'd never felt terror quite like that which she felt coming to in darkness, trapped within a body that could barely move. That wasn't to say it was the most scared she'd ever been - she didn't feel a panic attack coming on, though that could've very well have been due to the fact that physical exhaustion seemed to have a tighter hold on her body than her own mind. But it was certainly different.

'Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck,' the thought ran through her mind on repeat, though only one quiet, croaked, "What...the...fuck?" made it passed her lips. After a moment, her eyes fluttered open, and she was assaulted by bright white that made her eyes go bleary. Was she dead? As the memories came back to her, that seemed likely. The white light put her in mind of heaven. She slowly began to flex her fingers, then her wrist, and eventually her arms, and as she did, the image of the room around her sharpened into something more akin to a medical office than the Pearly Gates, followed quickly by a cacophony of noise, a god-awful combination of shouting, angelic singing, and explosions, assaulting not only her ears, but her vulnerable mind, her weakness dampening her ability to properly block the waves out from her brain.

"Can everything just...be quiet please?" Waverley managed to whisper out, getting a better hold on her voice. As function returned to her arm, she lifted her hand to her face, rubbing her forehead. Her eyebrows furrowed under her hand as she heard the familiar voice of Sunshine make mention of Genosha, followed by an unfamiliar voice explain further. "Genosha? You mean...that place the flying car lady with the pretty hair was talking about?...What did we ever do for Genosha? Did we...Were we able to save D.C. somehow?"

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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Location: Camp Half-Blood Barrier -> Apollo Cabin
Skills:

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As Leandra was helped along by the guiding hand of her legionnaire companion, she opened her mouth, preparing to make some lighthearted banter with the ginger Greek girl when instead the young woman began to chew her out. Leandra raised an eyebrow, her lips dipping into a small frown. She'd not meant for Marygold to hear that exchange, hence why she lowered her voice, but it seemed that the girl had somehow overheard. Perhaps her eardrums had not yet shifted back into that of a humans, and her hearing had still been that of an apex predator. Leandra was usually quite good at making people like her, it was her defining talent. But it at times seemed as though there were those cosmically destined to bear their teeth at her.

"Isley, darling, I did not mean to offend, but a battle is about more than who does the most damage. Yes, you may have dealt out more wounds than anyone on the battlefield, but you also would've received gods know how many more were it not for the intervention of young Stella. Offense is the base of every battle, but without supportive combatants, that's often all it is: a base. Forgive me for wanting to introduce your new warrior to that concept early," Leandra replied, her tone soft and pleasant, if a bit matter-of-factly. She ignored the personal jabs at her; she'd dealt with worse. Though it did seem a bit odd for Marygold to be attacking her personal performance when that hadn't at all been touched on in her interaction with Stella. Leandra let Marygold enter the cabin first, before following in after her and taking the first seat she could find. She slipped the neck of her shirt down her shoulder a bit to give Alexandra a better look at the wound she was working with, unobscured by the bright orange of the t-shirt. When Phelps spoke, Leandra let out a small, weak laugh. "Oh sweetheart, it's sweet that you think I could handle myself in a fistfight with this one-woman jungle."

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: The Lincoln Memorial
Skills:

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Waverley watched on, camera in hand, the light blinking away as the looming figure's voice boomed out, giving his hateful monologue. This was it. Their penultimate moment. What it was all leading up to. It was their darkest hour, and shortly, it would give way to the dawn. She watched, stood with her friends, getting ready to do what she could to help them defeat the monster of a man. Then, light flashed from Callie's fingertips, streaking out towards him.

Even through the crackling of Callie's lightning, Waverley could hear it. More so she could feel it, reverberating through her bones, rocking her to her core. The clicking of that button was the most horrifying collection of soundwaves she'd ever felt, carrying more weight than any scream of agony or gunshot could ever hope to. It all happened so fast. Waverley's forehead wrinkled in an expression as confused as it was terrified.

"This isn't how it's supposed to...we're the heroes..." Waverley croaked out in disbelief, or perhaps she didn't. She certainly thought it, and she felt her lips move to form the syllables. But in the detonation, and through the sudden whipping of icy wind around them, combined with the general chaos, she couldn't tell whether or not the words had made it up her throat. It didn't matter. The sentiment was clear in her teary eyes. They failed. They weren't able to save anyone. But that's not how it was supposed to go, they were the good guys, they were supposed to win. Every story she'd read, every movie she watched, everything that had pulled her into this life of altruism, they always taught that as long as you were willing to sacrifice anything and everything, then you can save the day. Well she was willing. She whispered to the universe that it could take her and everything she had if it saved even one mutant child. But it didn't listen.

The ice had made its way up her abdomen, and was creeping down her arms. Almost instinctively, she reached out for something, someone, some form of comfort as the cold took her. She found Sunshine's hand, grabbing hold of it, the warmth of her palm the last thing Waverley felt before her fingers went numb. She could feel the ice creeping up her neck, her eyes squeezing tightly closed, causing a tear to slip out onto her cheek. Her lips trembled inaudible words as the ice began to encase her head. In seconds, she was frozen, her prayer left unfinished in her now quiet mind.

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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Location: Camp Half-Blood Barrier -> Apollo Cabin
Skills:

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Leandra could feel her legs tremble underneath her weight. She knew what it felt like having something plunged deep into her shoulder, and this was so much worse. Poison, she figured. It wasn't exactly difficult to guess; the creature against which they fought was equipped with a scorpion's stinger. As she held the bow, her vision began to go a spotty, her body swaying to one side. Still, she had to stay up, to stay fighting. She raised up her weapon, fingers at the string and arrow between her fingers, taking aim, when...something green sprung up from the snow, grabbing hold of the monster and tugging it down to the ground. Vines. Leandra blinked, glancing back behind her to see if reinforcements arrived. What she saw surprised to see the young ginger with her hands on the ground, eyes alight with determination. Leandra let out a quiet, pleased huff as her eyes flitted back to see Marygold pounce on the newly bound monster. With that done, Leandra stepped back across the barrier, using her bow to aid in her walking, holding her bleeding wound with her other hand.

"So you already know of your abilities. Very good," Leandra praised the young girl, her body teetering forward a bit. Her voice was low, her normal elegance dampened by the pain of the wound, but the approval was clear in her words. Her eyes flashed back to Marygold crossing the barrier, one of her fellow campers holding the manticore tail out to her. "You did well out there. Were it up to me, you'd be newly equipped with a manticore tail right about now," her voice was quiet and jokingly conspiratorial, a smirk playing at her lips. As Marygold joined them, Leandra straightened up, allowing her fellow Roman to take her by the arm, taking some of the weight off her trembling legs. "Lovely work, mon chat de neiges! And welcome to Camp Half-Blood, young one. I do believe you arrived just in time for breakfast. Now if you lovely ladies will excuse me, I best get to the Apollo cabin before I have to be carried there. It might not be an awful idea for you to accompany me, Isley. We don't want to leave those wounds of yours to fester," Leandra suggested, before beginning to tread carefully in the direction of the Apollo tent, leaning on the Legionnaire for support.