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That officially made five choices out of a bajillion, most of which would never have crossed Margo's mind- partially because she hadn't been aware of their existence up until now. "We have a flight hangar? And you have access to it?" Because that would be seriously awesome, just like she would be seriously pissed if Jude was pulling her leg. Of course they could visit the gardens or chill on the roof, (talk about a cheesy date taken straight out of the pages of a novel) which she wouldn't protest against, especially if there were glow in the dark flowers- but why do so, when there were adventures to be had tonight? "Please tell me I'm not a total idiot for not knowing what Cerebra is."

Brave and stupid, eh? "I find that a charming combination." She gave him a dose of brave and stupid, all right: recklessness (pinning a name on a feeling made it SO much easier to project), and her power jumped to it.

Pausing in the hallway to wait for a snack burdened Jude, she made a mental note to ask him about that later. As in what the powers he'd copied shared in common, and what made them unique. For the moment, though, that was the least of her worries.

Her grin was lost in the darkness, but not in her words. "Where to, Dora the Explorer?"

I'm in favor of this whole thing and the timeline that Jiri suggested, as well the idea of a buggy system. I love the idea of Danny being used (whether he knows it or not) to blow places up. That could definitely be what pushes the whole thing over.
These are some really drastic measures here, so I definitely agree with everyone that it can't just happen out of nowhere. Margo would hate the idea of even the stalker bots, not to mention scanners and the stop and frisk rule, and I can't imagine she would be the only one. Just out of curiosity, how does everyone think this will end? There'll be plenty of conflict while it lasts, but we aren't going to make this permanent, right?

Senior pics for mutants? Margo grinned at the suggestion as she constructed a hasty slideshow from the pictures she'd managed to scrounge up. He had her (well...whoever she was supposed to be tonight...) right on the money. "All of the above, actually," she replied in an offhand manner. She barely glanced away from her screen, but raised an eyebrow, as if to say, duh! "Come on, we're sitting in the beginning of that market now."

She actually froze for a moment as the implications struck her, of a market like that. It had been a joke, of course, a ridiculous idea. But in the midst of this circle, in this shop with a freaking coffee bush growing through the roof, anything was possible... why not? And that was proof #2 of the crazy rubbing off on her- it wasn't like she was here to start a business or anything, just to have fun. It wasn't like she could think of mutants as a profit.

We aren't that different, Margo almost wanted to blurt out as the boy told his story. Something in her went out to his friend who hadn't known. She wouldn't have figured out about herself, either, had it not been for Lucy; she knew too well what it felt like to have everything you'd thought to be sure of torn away from you (it sucked). A pity that tonight she would be stuck 100% human and 100% oblivious.

"I see. Can't say anybody really understands how those powers and stuff work, but there's no better place to find out than here, eh? Ask away." She angled the computer screen so he could better see it. "In the meantime, an abridged illustration of how I got into 'special' bird watching..."

"...Ta-da!"

Dozens of photos of birds came together on the screen to form a collage, the foremost (one of her better shots) of which depicted something like a red tailed hawk- Ace might be no more than the product of a nifty mutation, but the boy couldn't know that. "So how did I come from that feathered hobby-" click, and the picture changed to that of a griffin boy "-to this one? Well, long story short, I live down the street from Xavier's-" click, "-this bird sanctuary here, and it's pretty hard to miss the guys with the cameras. That's how I heard about the club. As for the pictures-" click, a collage of featherless birds this time, "Well, as I said. They are photogenic."

Margo smirked and rolled her eyes as she waved the feline gangster off, then stopped sticking her nose out the window just long enough to look at Jude. "No? Um." Apparently he'd totally misunderstood her, because she couldn't remember having said anything about making things smell bad. Had she? "I'm pretty sure that's the barf," she said, and there was a pause as she racked her brain for an answer to his questions.

She didn't know. Golly, she had the lamest power in the universe and now Jude had it too, and the girl had absolutely no idea how to explain any of it. This was great.

"So I told you about the psychic wavelengths, right?" Jude's unconscious emissions tickled at the edges of her consciousness, and her own power responded instinctively, struggling to the surface. The whole thing was like those dogs who just couldn't stay away from each other when they walked past on the street, and Margo almost wanted to just give in and give it a try. But that was the last thing they needed right now- a vicious cycle of powers feeding off each other. So with a small sigh, she swallowed his anticipation...and was that disappointment? "I, uh- the bad news is you really can't tell when you're doing it or not, or control it, until you get really used to it. At least I couldn't, when I first found out, but it might be different for you. Can you feel anything, at all?" These days she mostly kept her powers under lockdown; if only she could explain how. That was probably what he wanted, right?

"It's hard to put in words, but I when I use my power, I know what I'm doing. As in I have to keep a hold on the feeling I want to send out, but I can 'see' how far it reaches. Which probably doesn't help you if you're doing it unconsciously, because default is whatever you're feeling at the moment, however far." And she really wasn't doing a good job of explaining, because she'd somehow managed to confuse even herself.

"Maybe you could try to do it on purpose, so you can at least get a feel for it?"

Margo raised an eyebrow in appreciation of the picture, but shushed the boy nonetheless. "Careful, or Walt over there's going to accuse you of copying him," she warned, nodding in the direction of the rainbow-hued tattoo monster, whose own rendition of a canine Brit (or was it the other way around?) was, indeed, attracting much attention.

"...So it said 'woof' just as prim and proper as her Majesty, and I was totally like 'bro can I take a pic with your dog?' cuz I'd already taken one with him..."

She grinned at and rolled her eyes at the boy, as if to say the antics of this circle were unbelievable. They were, and that was precisely the reason the girl made such a point of participating in them to her full extent.

"No. Uh, actually, yes." She shrugged in reply to his question, then laughed as she hurried to amend herself. "Yes, but not in the way you're thinking. None of this," with a sweep of her arm to indicate the gathering, "is so much my thing as photography. I've actually done quite a bit of bird watching in the past- as in, birds with feathers and beaks, of course. Photographing people is a different thing altogether, and, well, specials are so photogenic, you know?"

And there was Margo's proof, that the insanity of the place was rubbing off on her. Because having an X-gene totally produced a photogenic effect, which was totally why physical mutants, looking like gargoyles, got so much hate. The way she said it, though, it sounded almost believable.

"So, what exactly made you want to come tonight?" Her fingers skimmed over the laptop in front of her as she spoke, pulling up links to the online forums, searching for some pictures of her own for emphasis of that ridiculous point. "I mean, not that I don't understand the coming on a whim. Sort of did that myself."

It all started with an old camera and a hippie blogger, on a certain Tuesday morning. Conversation tumbled from behind a pair of round, blood tinted shades- bus routes, an extraordinary view of mutants in their natural habitat, bird watching.

"They what?"

And that was how Margo found herself in attendance at the 53rd meeting of the New York Audubon X Society, sprawled in a comfy pleather armchair and laughing her head off at the audacity of these people, who would make a hobby out of watching mutants, of all things. And where better to meet than Java Jimmy's, a two story hipster heaven with an actual coffee bush growing through the roof? You had to admit it was pretty awesome. The girl had complimented Jimmy on her way in, stopping to snap a couple pictures of the place.

Because, you know, Audubon X had an extensive online presence. The forums and blogs were her whole reason for being here, according to her cover. She was 100% human tonight, here to be a smart-ass and have fun.

She made small talk within the circle, signed a petition to reopen the Full Circle Bookstore, and ooh-ed and ahh-ed for effect with the rest of them. She neglected to mention the fact that she stayed at the same place Cold Steel did, instead offering to see what she could do with the picture. A couple of her own photos made their way around the circle, while she listened curiously as the others documented their adventures.

The boy seated to her left was looking a little lonely, Margo noticed. He seemed nice enough- quiet, but at least he wasn't outfitted in plaid, facial hair, peace signs, and oversized glasses, like the rest of the group. She gave him points for that.

"Hey, you spot any cool birds?" she asked, by way of a conversation starter.

Margo, leaning against the base of the guard tower a short distance away, folded her arms as she listened to Emily's conversations. She was trying, and failing, to swallow the sense of dread that had been rising in her throat since the moment she'd first stepped foot in this dastardly place. There was nothing definite yet, but somehow she knew. It had been a mistake to come.

What had she been thinking? She'd had nothing better to do than hang out with Emily. She'd thought maybe she could help. She'd thought maybe her ability might finally make itself useful. What had she been thinking? There was no help for anybody here.

She had never liked hospitals, but it was more that. God, this place was a prison. She wanted to help, she really did. But more than anything, Margo wanted out.

Instead, she looked bored. She avoided Emily's gaze, giving the few guards that paid attention to her a disdainful glance at the most. She wasn't scared. Emily was here, after all, even if she couldn't talk to her openly for fear of drawing some sort of negative attention.

Despite Margo's best efforts, the closest guard was already eyeing her. She couldn't help the fact that she stood out like a sore thumb in this place, a sharp-eyed girl among the crazy old patients and blank-faced guards. But she just rolled her eyes at him, tried harder to look dozy, and continued to watch the patients with those peculiar bracelets.