> “Raina will be freed. It will not be by you, though. It will not
> be by any one person. There’s a mutant resistance that I’m working with.”

Sonya quietly cheers through Rupert's entire lecture... not so much what he's saying, but the way he's saying it. On the one hand, it's clear he's not very far from taking a baseball bat to Naveed... and, truthfully, Sonya isn't far from it herself. On the other hand, it seems he really has changed sides on this one, not just for one drunken night. She wonders whether that's because he's really in love with Raina, or just because he feels guilty, or something else... but right now, it doesn't matter.

And on yet a third hand, she feels a certain amount of guilt herself, given that the "mutant resistance" Rupert is talking about is something she made up on the spot. Still, she is hooked up with the Resistance now, albeit remotely... heck, they're even paying her expenses now, how much more real can an organization get?... even if they don't really seem to be doing much of anything.

And now I sound like Naveed, I guess. "I want everything now!" He's not actually that far from jumping up and down and shouting IwantacookieIwantacookieIwantalollipop!, now that she thinks about it, and the image gets a chuckle out of her.

She gives some thought to the situation before opening her mouth. Rupert is clearly already suspicious of her, which isn't surprising... knowing his name and address makes it clear she's not just an innocent bystander... and Syn will probably want to recruit Naveed if she possibly can. In some ways this is a perfect opportunity, even if she wouldn't have taken it on her own.

"He's right, Naveed. Going in on your own might get Raina out, but the stronger a force we can put together, the better the odds will be... and there's less of a chance of Raina getting hurt that way, also. If you're willing to be part of a team, for her sake, then -- ack!" Sadly, her calm, reasonable, entirely sane pitch falls completely apart when Wallace comes gamboling across the room towards her. She backs up hard against the wall behind her, shoving her hands instinctively in her (still-problematic) pockets, and completely forgets everything she was about to say. "Um... nice puppy. Sit?"

(( OOC: Sonya is not so much afraid of dogs as she is phobic about being touched by animals, though the difference is fairly academic. It's all good! ))

Naveed looked curiously at the woman's reaction to the dog and wondered why she was afraid. "Can you gurantee to keep Raina safe with your 'jail break'?" demanded Naveed. "You've already hurt her enough." it was true. "I'll be part of your 'team'" he started reflecting on what Theresa had said "but only so I can ensure her safety. After this I'll take Raina away from here."

He seemed contented for the moment with the idea, but there was much to suggest that Naveed was simply a ticking time bomb for whom the explosion had meerly only been delayed.

"You don't realise the damage you've done, cop." he stated. "not only by putting her in the camps. Raina is the princess of our tribe. If something should happen to her it woudln't take long for the others to know and I would be the least of your problems. " Now that was a tidbit of information Raina had never divuldged. Afterall, who's to think the punk rocking native was anything more then a young adult rebel?

OOC: I have a question for Sonya. When you change your template thingness, do you just change what you look like, or does your smell change too? Just in case wallace meets you in another template

IC:
Wallace skidded to a halt directly in front of sonya, and barked. A loud, high-pitched, very puppy like bark. It was really more of a yip, actually. Yip yip! He jumped up and down, still yipping, not entirely sure why. But it seemed fun, so he carried on. Yip yip!

First order of business: Rupert scooped up the puppy, and gently held its muzzle shut for a moment ((ooc: Is that all right, Ted?)). “No barking,” he commanded. If that could even be called barking. More of an undignified ‘yip’, really—even Flipsy had a better voice than that.

Second order of business: using the pause that action gave him to process the young woman’s loaded speech. The very speech the puppy had so rudely interrupted. Obviously, the woman was afraid of dogs for some reason. Power related, or just a normal phobia? It didn’t matter just now. She’d said, in not so many words, that she was part of the mutant organization that had contacted him. That was fantastic. For one thing, it was nice to know they actually existed and he hadn’t just drunken himself to delusion. For another thing, that simplified things with Ian immensely: or at least, he hoped it did. It might even get Naveed here out of his apartment. Wouldn’t that be fantastic. In fact, just that one thing would make this a good day, in Rupert’s book.

Processing complete. On to the third order of business: dealing with the deranged things that were vomiting from Naveed’s mouth at disgusting rate.

“You don't realise the damage you've done, cop. Not only by putting her in the camps. Raina is the princess of our tribe. If something should happen to her it wouldn't take long for the others to know and I would be the least of your problems.”

Is he always this much of a delusional narcissistic with a sister complex, or did wandering down from the wilds to the Big Apple just leave him with a massive inferiority complex?

“What I’ve done is my concern, Naveed. What the results of that will be are my concerns, as well. You worry about working with Miss...” If he’d heard the young woman’s name during all of this chaos, he hadn’t retained it. He looked to her to fill in that blank, then turned back to Naveed. “You worry about helping the resistance hold up their end of things. I’ll be ready on mine.” As soon as I come up with some sort of plan. It was little facts like this which he didn’t feel obliged to share with a violent freak that had broken his coffee table, killed his potted plant, and scared his poodle and his puppy.

He turned to the young woman again, and offered his hand. He had ridiculous suspicion as to who or what she was, but it would be a pretty big coincidence. He was a cop: he didn’t believe in coincidences. That didn’t mean his suspicion was about to roll over and die, though. “I can’t say I’ve seen that face before, so let me introduce myself. Rupert Kelley.” He motioned with his head towards Wings. “This is Ian. He just got to New York today, if I understand correctly; he was looking for other mutants who’d escaped the camps.” Hopefully now that things were getting more civilized, the teenager would stop staring out the window like he was the only one in the room. Rupert could see months of psychiatric bills, standing right over there.

Sonya breathes a sigh of relief as Rupert subdues the puppy, profoundly aware of her ridiculousness. "Thanks."

> "If something should happen to her it wouldn't take long for the
> others to know and I would be the least of your problems."

Really? Sonya wonders if they're all like Raina and Naveed back home, or whether Naveed is just spouting. It would be interesting, if true... and potentially useful. At least, if they're not all nutjobs. Of course, given that Raina apparently ran away from home and Naveed is trying to bring her back, the odds are she's the exception. Pity.

> "You worry about working with Miss..."

"Teresa," she adds, and nods to both Rupert and Naveed, trying to look confident. OK, it's official: I'm representing the Resistance to a room full of crazy people. Every step along the way made sense, but Sonya can't quite figure out how she'd ended up in this position. Well, imagine how I feel!, she tells herself, All I did was shake hands with the wrong woman at the gym!

...

!

No, Sonya is not going to worry about that right now.

> "I can’t say I’ve seen that face before, so let me introduce myself. Rupert Kelley.”

Sonya shakes Rupert's hand. "Teresa. You'll forgive me if I don't bother making up a fake last name. Nice to finally meet you... I've heard a lot about you. Though this isn't exactly how I'd intended to make contact," she adds, shooting another glare at Naveed.

> “This is Ian. He just got to New York today, if I
> understand correctly; he was looking for other
> mutants who’d escaped the camps.”

She smiles brightly and extends a hand to Ian, idly wondering if she'd be able to fly if she copied his wings, though keeping a firm grip on her power to avoid finding out right this moment. "Nice to meet you, Ian. I think I can help out with that... as well as finding you somewhere to stay that's a little less cramped than Rupert's apartment, if that's what you want. You're not the only obvious mutant in New York, not by a long shot."

She sits in one of the non-overturned pieces of furniture, trying to look relaxed, and adds "So, we've heard from Rupert and Naveed here... why don't you tell us a little about yourself, Ian?"

Ian turned away from the window and weakly accepts Teresa's extended hand. Letting go he watched as she went over to one of the remaining peices of furniture and sat down. Keeping an eye on the crazy man he took a couple of steps to the side and stood there staring idlely into space.

"So, we've heard from Rupert and Naveed here... why don't you tell us a little about yourself, Ian?"

He couldn't stop himself from letting out a sarcastic chuckle when he heard her say that they had heard from Naveed, who he could safely asume was the insane man. They had heard from him alright, if that was all they had done.

"Well I come from a city called Athens, its in Georgia, and it was a nice enough place to grow up. Up to the point were these beautiful things sprouted out of my back. Thats about the point were my family decides they suddenly don't have a son and my friends decide that they never knew me. Let me tell you getting disowned and chased out by family and friends is not very fun."

Ian paused and shook his head. Lots of painful memories were in this story. He couldn't help but picture all the freinds and family he had lost when he was branded a "freak" and a "minace".

"So having no where to go and nothing to do I headed out on the road. I traveled for a little while until I get word of a place for mutants to live in peace. So I chased this little hope up here only to find rampaging robots and mad men."

He gave Naveed a harsh stare and then turned away. Stretching his wings out again as he did so. He probably walked two maybe three feet before he stopped and began talking again.

"Seeing as how I came up here to find more mutants I would love to meet some more. Also it would be nice not to be such a burden and safety hazard for Rupert. I can't bare to think of anyone, especialy my own kind, rotting away in some camp so if there is anything I can do I'll do it."

"It's rediculous that you were treated like that" came a softened reply from Naveed after his extened silence while listening to the others. "It makes me sick to see this sort of ability be treated with anything less than awe and reference. Think of how much easier your life would be if you could roam about and fly about whenever you felt like it. " he thoughtfully sat down- though he was talking to Ian he could have been giving a monolog.

He looked different than he did before- more in control of himself, more calmed, more... human. It was alarming the difference really. He could easily be the friendly man who helped Theresa when she fell. It was obvious that his powers had a bit of a connection with his lack of social skills- though he wasn't about to go spouting feelings and nonesense like the others. He may have calmed down but his main goal was still Raina.

"So what are your plans then Rupert?" he asked finally adressing the man by his name. Despite the desgusted look on his face he was actually making an effort to appear less threatening no matter how comical it seemed. "The camps have been running for a bit if I heard correctly. I can't stand the thought of Raina staying there that long, nor staying there a moment longer." He squeezed his hands into fists and put them by his side. He crinkled his nose- "Her smell is all over this place." he whispered to himself.

He thought about the circumstances of Raina leaving and wondered if her powers had progressed. Back then she meerly caused a little ice to form when she sang and she wasn't even that good at it yet- of course when the council found out it wasn't as if she'd been able to practice. Even when they threw her out she didn't seem mad... just left with her Kyak.

OOC: No problem! I was a little stuck as to what to do anyway lol

IC:
"Yip yip yi-gmpf". wallace found himself high up, with Thing 1's hand clamped over his jaws. Not the most ideal of situations, by any means. He tried to wrestle himself free, but he was no cat so had the acrobatic abilities of kermit the frog. He also was no great dane, and so had only the strength of a small pupp. Not great odds, but that wasn't about to stop him from trying. Things had started to calm down now, and he wanted to go experiment with the new people. So, he wrestled away with Thing 1. He like the Blue Thing, and Bird, and so would be perfectly happy to go to either of them, once he got free. Correction: if he got free.

((ooc: If it's all right with everyone, could we keep this thread set prior to the seven-week-jump? It rather messes with my mental picture of Rup's timeline and mental growth if we suddenly leap this thing ahead... The time jump is going to make a big difference in Rup's behavior.))

Rupert flipped the squiggling puppy onto its belly in his arms, and started tickling it. He didn’t trust putting the little guy on the floor—it seemed a little too intent on running right to the only person in the room that squeaked when it came near. He was quiet as the newly introduced Teresa and Ian spoke: he was happy for the teenager. Suddenly all of his fears about how he’d handle having a winged mutie teenage freak living in his apartment... where just gone. They left a void in him that was quickly filling with relief.

Now there was just the matter of Naveed. Naveed, who was trying and failing abysmally to act like a civilized human being. A violent pushy freak was a violent pushy freak, and trying to cover that with niceties and sympathies just made him look like a violent pushy freak wearing a puppy skin. No offense to LG.

"So what are your plans then Rupert? The camps have been running for a bit if I heard correctly. I can't stand the thought of Raina staying there that long, nor staying there a moment longer."

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it so often that a nail and a hammer wouldn’t go through your head any better: this isn’t just about Raina. “Nothing personal, Naveed,” but you’re an impulsive asshole, “but I really think I need to speak with the resistance about my plans, not with its individual members. Things are very much in the planning stages, right now. I need to coordinate what I’m doing with your people on the outside if this thing is going to work.” He looked very pointedly at Teresa as he said that one. This was his second time meeting a resistance member. His first time while he was sober. It would be nice to know what the hell the freaks were up to, before he finalized his own plans.

(( OOC: Sure, I'm indifferent to the time. I've been kinda handwaving over the "seven weeks with no measurable progress" thing anyway. ))

Sonya's sympathetic grimace at Ian's story doesn't have to be faked at all -- it sounds like the kid's been through a lot. Not as bad as some, granted, but still more than an ordinary-seeming teenager ought to have to deal with just because he has wings. She nods sadly at his comment about a place for mutants to live in peace, as well, and is about to say something to cheer him up when Naveed responds.

To her astonishment, his response is almost sympathetic. He still sounds like a borderline sociopath, admittedly -- no, on second thought, scratch the "borderline" -- but he no longer seems to view the people in this room as enemies. It's astonishing how much of a difference that makes.

> "I need to coordinate what I’m doing with your people on the outside if this thing is going to work."

Sonya nods in response to the pointed glance. "Well, first of all, let's be clear: Naveed is not part of the Resistance; I only met him for the first time an hour ago." And I'm not sure we want him... but that's not my call. The truth is, judging from what she'd seen of the rest of the Order, powerful and sociopathic isn't a showstopper for membership. "But if you're willing to cooperate, I can put you in touch with my boss. Same goes for you, Ian."

"But Rupert's right... this thing is in the planning stages. The biggest obstacle is the Stalkers, of course, and we're working on ways to deal with that." She doesn't really know that, but it seems like the obvious thing to be doing... and in some ways it's a relief not to know very much, since that way she can't give too much away.

"After all, it does no good to break them out if we can't keep them out afterwards. They can only stay in hiding for so long. And yes, I know," she adds to Naveed before he can open his mouth, "you don't intend to go into hiding, you intend to take Raina back home. Except I'm betting that if she'd wanted to go back home she'd have gone already, right? And I'm sure you respect this goddess-like sister of yours too much to drag her off somewhere she doesn't want to be, so you're going to need somewhere safe to stay while you talk her into it with your irresistable charm -- the non-mutant variety, thank you very much -- and impeccable reason." She manages to keep a straight face, though she can't help the unmistakable sarcasm in her voice.

"Which means this is going to take some time. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. Believe me, I hate it as much as you do." She sighs, slumps into the couch slightly, and her eyes fall on the Church of Humanity bulletin on the coffee table. She's never actually seen one before, and after picking it up and looking at a page or two she never wants to see one again. She hurls it angrily against the far wall, too overcome by sudden despair to even be amused at the way Flipsy goes chasing after the fluttering target.

"You know the sickest part of all this?" It's an angry and embarassingly teenaged wail directed to the room at large, though she's mostly looking at Rupert. "You're all so damned scared of mutants because we're supposedly so much more powerful than you are, except we're the ones being abused here. Make up your damned minds! You can be the victims or you can run the prisons but you can't do both at once!"

Naveed growled low in his throat and before he could give himself the chance to order anyone else around he pulled out a scrap of dirty looking paper and scribbled a number and adress on it. "Here." he grunted putting it on the table closest to Rupert. "This is where I am staying." It was the hotel he was currently residing in with Sapphire. "Let me know when you make your decisions and go for my sister." he stood tall among them daring any of them to challenge him but then added, "please." just above a whisper.

Ok, Naveed could obviously be a gigantic elephant of a jerk, but it was becoming more and more obvious his fears for Raina. Having lived in the artic so long and never having experieinced the trials he was now- every ounce of him was being tested.

Rupert took the note. He never intended to use it, but he took it. There went one truly scary freak. Minimal self-control, anger management issues that made Rupert look well-adjusted, and a power that just shouldn’t exist. He stared at the door for a moment after the mutie had left. The he glanced towards Teresa, who he did indeed forgive for not bothering to make up a fake last name. So. Apparently, the freaks at large knew where he lived, now.

It might be time to switch apartments. The landlord here wasn’t too great, anyway. First, though... he ran a hand through his hair, and looked at both of the muties left in his living room. “Listen—I’ve got to get to the station, and make a report before they try sending someone to check in on me.” He looked at the teenager. “If you want to stay here, Ian, you’re still welcome. If Ms Teresa here knows somewhere safer for you, though, somewhere with more of your kind... I certainly won’t be surprised if you’re gone when I get back.” He nodded to the kid. “Good luck. And keep those wings covered.”

He turned back to Teresa. “Obviously, you know where to find me if you need me.” He took out his notepad, scribbled down his phone number, and tore out the page. “There’s my cell number, though, on the off chance you don’t have it.” He debated on asking for a number from her for only the briefest of seconds, and decided against it: if this all blew up in his face, the less he knew about the Resistance, the less he could give away. “Make sure Naveed doesn’t get his hands on that, okay? The last thing I need is to get phone calls from that fr—guy.”

He grabbed his coat, set down the puppy, and made for the door. He paused awkwardly in the threshold. Leaving two muties standing in his apartment... was just odd. “Bye,” he finally said, with a brief wave. Then he was out the door, and over to the station. He really hoped they hadn’t called in the sketch artist. Making the report was going to be interesting enough: he didn’t need to go into the finer points of an imagined cat mutant’s facial structure.

(( the thread is dead, long live the new thread! Griffon, if you want to get the invite to the Labs, just assume Sonya arranged it; post there as you wish ))