Framing A Moose

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Magda Memorial Housing Complex
Skills:

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Waverley was surprised when Havok begrudgingly apologized. She'd expected him to blow up, storm off to a room that wasn't his like Max had. It was a...welcome surprise. She relaxed a little, her lips curving up into a small smile as she gave Havok a encouraging pat on the arm. "You're fine, dude," she reassured, before tensing up at the familiar sight of Max doing magic down the hall. She whirled her head over to see exactly the boy was up to, only to get a look at his newly crafted sign. Part of her wanted to chew him out for using his vastly dangerous and unpredictable powers so frivolously, but the more wholesome (and powerful) part of her just wanted to make a sign of her own. So instead of charging after Max, she got to work rummaging around the apartment.

"Oh, that'd be dope!" she called back to Casper from the kitchen, gathering the stuff she'd need to make her own DIY sign. She came back, holding up a freshly torn piece of paper from her notebook up to the door of one of the rooms as she began to write, talking as she did, inserting herself into Casper and James' hypothetical restaurant plan. "Maybe we could name all the foods after the Mutant Underground members! The Ben Egg-toplasm Surprise, or the Kingston Coffee, or Sunshine-y side up eggs, or Echo and Veil's French Toast? I know they're technically from Canada, but that's kinda French!" she added, before stepping back, revealing her sign.

'Waverley + _______'s Room

Come on in!'

A rather big smiley face took up the bottom third of the paper, and matched Waverley's own grin. "Perfect. I'm good with rooming with whoever. Now, to this Lagoon?" She offered, before seeing Valkyrie's state, her smile faltering. "Er, unless you don't want to, Z. We can eat here if you'd prefer."

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Magda Memorial Housing Complex
Skills:

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Waverley's lips jutted out as she waited for an answer to her lunch inquiry, dropping her arm from her stomach when it seemed no one was going to comment. For her, the decision was pretty much made up for the time being, and the idea of food was much more appealing than the idea of continuing a discussion in which she had already decided her side. Much like Veil, Waverley tensed up at Max's magic, though for different reasons. Part of her prepared to lash out with a sonic blast in case this was when Max finally snapped, but when the magical light instead created some sort of shield around the inner walls of the apartment, she relaxed. So much so she snorted a little at James' joke.

"I think there's a spell for that...try Accio Viagra," she added, unable to fight of the smirk that overtook her face. It faltered, though, when Havok began pointing fingers at those of them who'd awoken early. She stepped towards him, hoping to cash in on any good will she'd earned by checking on him earlier to calm him down. "Dude, if you really think you're in a country of enemies, treating your friends like shit is probably a bad call," she warned, before letting out a sigh. It seemed like a decision had been made. With a hopeful tone in her voice, she added, "Soooo...a yes to staying, and a maybe to food?"

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Magda Memorial Housing Complex
Skills:

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”And what exactly are we hoping to find by snooping? Some singular big secret that’ll prove that this place is evil? And are we gonna be content if we find nothing?” Waverley asked, rattling off the hypothetical questions one after the other. Rather than taking a seat anywhere, she had opted to instead alternate between anxiously pacing around the living area of their new home, and forcing herself to stand mostly still, inevitably fidgeting and chewing on her nails as she did.

”I just think…I just think it’s worth giving this place a try. At least for a little while. Who knows, maybe we learn that we can help most here, right?” Waverley continued with a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. Despite the subtle suspicion that she’d felt upon waking up in Genosha, the suspicion which still itched away in the pit of her stomach, she wanted to believe they had a future in Genosha. And while the root of that desire was Sunshine’s vehement endorsement of the place, it had only grown with the ceremony. She’d always told herself that doing the right thing for its own sake was all that mattered, not fame. But after a taste? She had to admit that she could see the appeal. Sure, the spotlight terrified her, but she loved…well, being loved. It was an exciting new feeling for somebody who’d been a nobody to most everybody they’d ever known. It was…addictive.

”Whatever we decide to do, though…we should do it together. We’re still the Mutant Underground, even if we aren’t super underground at the moment,” she paused for a moment, before lowering her hand to her stomach. ”Also…anyone else down to discuss this over some lunch? I feel like I haven’t eaten in, well, five months.”

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Carousel
Skills: Radio Wave Manipulation, Perception

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Waverley pulled back a little as Havok spun around and begun his rant. She’d assumed that his rage had been one of humiliation, but it sounded like it was more one of worry. As he quieted, Waverley let out a deep sigh, nodding her head in solemn understanding.

”I…I get what you mean. If you’d told me a year ago that I’d share an area code with the Magneto, I’d have…”she began to say, eyes shooting to Magneto, though she was quickly distracted by the trio of blondes who collectively blew her a kiss as they walked past. The action caused blood to flow to her cheeks in a ferocious blush, a wide, dorky smile spreading across her lips as she lifted a hand, replying with an awkward wave. She stood there like that for a few seconds too long, her hand limply raised up. She was pulled back to reality by Callie’s voice, seeing her standing there with her and Havok. She cleared her throat as she did her best to shake the daze off.

”Right, yeah, what Spark Plug said. It’s not like America is any safer…or morally superior, for that matter. Only difference is here, there’s a chance we might be able to have some amount of say in how things are done. So let’s just…see how it all goes, and worse comes to worse, we can dip and put the ‘underground’ back into ‘Mutant Underground’,” she suggested, giving a warm smile and a half shrug to Havok.

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Carousel
Skills: Radio Wave Manipulation, Perception

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Waverley quickly stepped back almost as soon as she called out her name, cringing a bit at the disjointed chants that followed her pathetic attempt at a grand introduction. Luckily, within seconds, the attention was off her and back on her team. The rest of the introduction went without a hitch; well, without many hitches. There was Casper's so-called 'cannonball' and Warlock's witchy hijinks. Waverley thought about joining the former, only to remember how little she liked being in crowds let alone riding them. And he latter...well, the latter admittedly caused a small smirk to break out on her lips. It wasn't awful to see Havok be the butt every now and then. Maybe it'd do something to his attitude. Still, she shook her head in disapproval; Havok or not, it was a dick move on Warlock's part. They were a team, and needed to act like such, especially in such uncharted waters.

There was one more hitch in the introductions, one that particularly distracted Waves: Echo calling his name out to the crowd, before attempting a shameful retreat from the stage. Waverley made a motion to go and stop him, but saw that Veil - along with her abilities - were coming to her brother's rescue. Before Waves could give another thought to trying to help the two, Magneto stepped up with Reeva's mention of tokens. She practically jumped as the ex-terrorist (or hopefully ex-terrorist) launched these tokens at them, small bits of meteorites for every one of them. Her mind instinctively reached out, caressing the thing for any signs of signals, but she found nothing. It was surreal. The people who Waves had grown up learning to fear from the news, the people they'd once fought, now stood with them handing out awards in front of a roaring crowd. It was like Waverley's biggest dream had a baby with her worst nightmare. Still, it wasn't enough to stop the idea of putting them all together to make a Sokka meteorite sword from shoving its way into the forefront of her mind. She raised her head to voice this thought, only to see Havok quite literally throw the gift away and run off their little podium.

"Shit, someone should probably go check on him," Waverley said, shooting a glance out at Polaris once more. She wasn't sure what exactly she was expecting of the ferrokinetic, maybe to either help catch her ex or find the precious space stone, one of the two, but she didn't entirely expect either. It was made clear pretty quick by Waverley's actions that when she had said 'someone' she meant herself. She felt about Havok the same way she had about Sapphire; he could be kind of a dick, but he was still family. In a lot of ways, he reminded her of her actual brother; a semi-charismatic douchebag with a temper. She gave an awkward wave to the Quiet Council, then curtsied (in her jeans, mind you) to the crowd of chanting mutants, before quickly vamoosing from the stage. It didn't take long to find Havok. When she did, she grabbed gently onto his arm and did her best to stop him in his tracks with her limited physical prowess. "Dude, are you good? If this is about what Warlock did up there, we can have a talk with him later. That was a dick move on his part, I'd probably be fuming too."

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Carousel
Skills: N/A

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Stepping out onto the stage at the Carousel was like a nightmare for Waverley. It appeared as though her newfound confidence was limited to assault and other stupid decisions, and did not stretch to protect her from good old fashion stage fright. The presence of the Quiet Council didn't help; they were all people she'd long since learned to fear, so feeling their eyes watching her and her friends was unsettling to say the least. And somehow, the strangely dressed stranger somehow managed to be even more intimidating, an impressive feat given her company. It was moments like this (and many others) that Waverley found herself jealous of Veil's ability to disappear. She did her best to do so mundanely, sticking near the back and hoping to become just another face among the Underground. She watched as her friends went up and did their things, clapping along, snickering slightly at Havock's fuck up.

Then, right after James stepped up to say his part, there was an undeniable path for her to the forefront of the stage. Her mind immediately went haywire, trying to figure out if she was expected to go up now, or if the pathway left for her was simply an accident. Her body eventually made the decision for her, putting one reluctant foot forward, then another, then another. Her hands were nervously clutched together in front of her, her legs threatening to collapse out from under her from the nerves. She stood quietly in the front for a solid few moments, frozen in place, staring out at the crowd of strangers. Or, well, mostly strangers. Seeing Polaris in the front row was...oddly comforting? She was by no means a friendly face - their only interaction had left Waverley traumatized - but she was a familiar one, which was more than could be said for most everyone else there. Waves let out a deep breath, her shoulders sagging a bit as she forced herself to relax.

"Uh, Waverley...Watts. Waverley Watts. Or Waves. Sometimes I go by Feedback? It's, like, my superhero name...or whatever. Really anything is cool, I'm cool with anything," she said, before giving a small, demure wave.

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Omega Building
Skills: N/A

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As Jack spoke to Waverley, explaining the money situation, the young woman gave a small nod of understanding, tucking the bills back into her wallet and slipping it back into her pocket. She supposed it made sense; there were bound to be a variety of mutations that cut down on resource use. Still, in a country pushed by the mutant elite, she couldn't help but be surprised that they didn't use the age old tool of capitalism to keep some amount of control. Her lips turned down a bit into an uncertain frown as Havock spoke, giving a half shrug.

"Maybe...she already had lunch plans?" Waverley half-heartedly suggested, her hopes of spreading her optimism out to the grouchy man getting dimmer and dimmer. Her expression was dampened more when she saw the look of suspicion decorating the face of Sunshine, looking at her like she was trying to sniff out some grander scheme she was up to. Waverley, for one, was pretty sure she'd never been up to a scheme in her life, and the fact that Sunshine was gazing at her the way Waverley tended to gaze at Max rather than the unfiltered excitement that had been bubbling in Waverley moments prior made her shoulders sag. First she'd blown her off in favor of Max upon waking up, and now she was staring at her like Waves had spat in her sandwich. Waverley couldn't help but wonder if she did something wrong. "Dude, is it that hard to believe I want to record an important part of my friend's life just for the sake of having it?...and maybe showing it to the MarrBow kids, if, y'know, you two decide you want children." A life of geekdom had left Waverley pretty well capable of coming up with ship names on the fly, and she was about to give herself a pat on the back when suddenly the room faded away, leaving them in a strange, semi-futuristic version of on old Norse house.

It took Waverley a moment of confusion before she understood what was going on, at which point she watched young Zari and her tender mother. Waverley couldn't help but feel a hollow sadness at the memory playing out around of them; she would've expected some deep stabbing pain at the reminder that she was now without a mother, but instead, it caused her to look inside for a memory similar to Zari's. She found none. As much as she had mourned the stern woman, Waverley didn't have much in terms of vibrant, loving memories of her. Part of her wondered what would appear were the woman to use her powers on her, but the other part was scared to find out. As the memory faded away from the room, Waverley shifted uncomfortably on her feet, quickly nodding along with Callie, trying to shove past her own thoughts.

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: Omega Building
Skills: N/A

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"Oh...I see..." Waverley was almost visibly buffering at Sunshine's assertion that her wedding wouldn't be what she was imagining. The girl tended to have a romantic, yet somewhat traditional view of marriage, having spent hours upon hours in the past imagining her own dream wedding. Her head tilted to the side, as if Sunshine was speaking a language she couldn't fully comprehend. In the end, it was memories of her old YA Fantasy Pinterest board that gave her the tools to try to better connect with the younger girl. "So...ceremonial weapons instead of wedding rings? Or maybe matching tattoos?" she suggested, "And can I still record the ceremony? For posterity?" As she asked, her finger twitched to press a button on her video camera, the red light blinking on. It seemed less like she wanted to record this specific moment and more like she wanted to stretch a muscle that'd been left alone for far to long; her videography muscle. She twisted both her organic eyes and the mechanical one that blinked away in her hand to look at Havock as he spoke.

"Well...she was fighting for Genosha, so now that it's here...she's probably chill again, right?" Waverley interjected optimistically, giving a hopeful shrug. She turned to Renegade, beginning to say "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know a woman with really cool hair named P-" before the loud crunching of wood interrupted her, causing her to flinch. She spun around to see Zari, sword out, swinging down on the table. She took a step towards the girl, ready to go see what was wrong, until she saw Veil stepping forward first. So instead, she quickly lunged into the box, pulling out her wallet. "Shit, sorry about that. We can pay for it if you..." she trailed off as she looked down at the pale green faces of the long dead racists that decorated the cash she was pulling out, the realization suddenly dawning on her. [color=purple]"...these don't have any value here, do they?

The Gifted - Concluded

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

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Max's clothing magic actually managed to peg Waverley's style pretty spot on, perhaps even improving on it. Waverley had never put much effort into her appearance, having long since mastered the art of throwing on whatever was clean and closest. The magic, at least, seemed to have some sense of color coordination, giving Waves a deep purple blouse under a black baggie hoodie, as well as black leggings and a pair of tennis shoes with purple trimming. All in all, she looked like an ad for leisurewear. She stiffened as the magic worked its...well, its magic on her, her jaw setting as she looked down. She pulled the neck of the blouse out a bit to see if the spandex was still underneath. Luckily it was; she would've had to have a long chat about boundaries with their matricidal magician if it wasn't. But instead, she let it go.

"I...I hope you're right," she mumbled to Sunshine, letting out a deep breath. She had to let herself believe that the place could be as good as it seemed, at least for a little while. The thought was quickly expelled from her mind as she finally processed something else Sunshine said, something that made her eyes widen. Her hand shot out to grab Sunshine's arm as they entered the omega building, holding it tightly for a second, practically bouncing with excitement. "Sorry, did you say fiance?! Shit, dude, why didn't you fucking lead with that?! That's big! Enormous! The fucking goliath of news! Do you have a date for the wedding? A venue? Bridesmaids? A videographer? I can do it for free, if you want, though I've never done a wedding. Shit dude, this is so exciting! It's exciting to just say it! Wedding! Sorry, I'm being weird, but god, this is gonna be fucking awesome! Oh shit, I didn't even ask about your fiance. Are they cool? I mean, obviously they are if you're marrying them but, like, what're they like? What's their name?" Waverley excitedly rambled as they made their way through the omega house, up to their things. She bent over the box, rummaging around the things until she found what she was looking for: her camera, as pristine as the day they were frozen, perhaps even more so. She'd been worried it'd be damage, but it was perfect, practically brand new.

The Gifted - Concluded

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

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Waverley gave a small, content nod at Veil's affirmation, a warm smile snugly at home on her lips as she readied herself to go. It fell away from her face, however, when she heard Max spoke out in her direction. Her eyes flitted back to him, though they looked to be filled more with soft annoyance than the fiery fury that'd previously been burrowing into him.

"I dunno, dude, I'm not your beautician. Your face isn't my responsibility," she said with a passive aggressive shrug, blowing off his warranted confusion, instead stepping in line with the others, finding herself drifting between Callie the twins, and Sunshine and Kristina. She almost snorted when the name of the hospital was revealed to them, but she managed to stay quiet. She found it darkly funny that despite all it's s Genosha was sticking to the age old tradition of naming things after sketchy people who committed sketchy acts in the name of their country. But that sense of amused irony died inside her as she got an eyeful of the paradise that stretched out before them.

"Holy shit..." she mumbled, those two simple words an instrument of all her amazement. There was, of course, a darkness hanging over that wonder, the knowledge of the kind of people who fought for the place, but it wasn't enough to overshadow the beauty of the place completely. She couldn't bring herself to fault the flower for being planted by bloodstained hands. As the tour went on, Waverley slowed a bit, soaking it all up as she walked alongside Sunshine and Kristina. "I...I kinda think the whole place might be cool..." Waverley offhandedly replied to Kristina, even if the question had been directed at Sunshine.