The Brink of War [OPEN]

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: Everyone
WHAT: The news of the world, brought right to your school!
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WHEN: All week
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"... the hashtag has inspired several high profile mutants in the entertainment world, particularly mutant pop star Dazzler, to put up personal accounts of the discriminations they've faced growing up as mutants. However, the Mutant Liberation Front, or at least hackers claiming to be them, have seemingly hijacked the movement on several social media sites, using the hashtag while "doxxing", defined as "sharing the private personal information of an individual or group, anyone that has publicly spoken out against mutants. The internet has become a battleground like any city street..."


"... special diplomat Haller faced many questions arriving back in the United States today. She has stated she had no comments on Genosha's threat of war against the US. President Kelly's diplomatic relations with Genosha have largely been criticized as failures, and many in congress and in the public in general seem to be in favor of preparing for the inevitable..."


"... Reverend William Stryker, uncle to the late Donovan Zane, has lead a vigil lasting several days now on the steps of Congress and refuses to be moved until Mutant Registration has been passed. Public support is turning overwhelmingly in favor of registration as the nation mourns the young man, Donovan Zane, whose life was taken in the midst of a violent protest..."


"... with the coldest temperatures on record. Volunteers are urging everyone in District X to be extra careful as the season progresses, to regularly visit the shelters and soup kitchens, and to not try to brave the winter storms alone. They have also put out a mass call to anyone willing to help out, with food, blankets, and/or warm clothing..."


"... a nation on the brink of war. President Kelly addressed the nation saying that 2019 will not be a repeat of historical mistakes or tragedies. He says he refuses to believe the spirit of the American people are so willing to give in to bigotry and surrender to what is perceived as an inevitable war with Genosha. It can be stopped, he urged. He said we all have to look at ourselves and find the courage to do the right thing and love our fellow person, no matter what the circumstances. President Kelly continues to believe in his vision of hope for humans and mutants..."

[[ ooc: Students and teachers are free to start their own threads in this log in response to one or more of these news clips, or even to things related but not specifically posted here. ]]

Comments

[batteredbatter]

[Koshi grins - the snowball would be out of the strike zone but who cares. He steps over to accommodate it and swings the bat at it hard... which of course just makes the ball explode and spray snow all over him.]

Pfft! Ack!

[niepokonany]

[Feliks laughs, completely without shame. God, that was too easy!]

Hahaha, oh my god!

[batteredbatter]

H, hey, don't laugh!

[Though Koshi sounds on the verge of laughter himself, spitting out snow and trying to wipe it off his face]

[niepokonany]

How am I supposed to not laugh? Like, you saw that, right?

[Yep, still not stopping. He'd meant to have the illusion be more real than that, and stay as a baseball until it went further away, but moving objects are hard and he's keeping the fort made of stone -- plus, it was much funnier this way, anyway!]

[batteredbatter]

Well, we'll see how much you're laughing in a second!

[He scoops up a handful of snow, packing it into a ball and...

He tosses it up in the air. The dumb kid is so used to baseball that he really just pitched a snowball up in the air to bat at Feliks and he really did not take even one second to think this plan through.

It ends predictably, with snow exploding in his face again.]

Ack!

[niepokonany]

[Oh god, he's legitimately going to hurt himself laughing this hard. His hand slaps against the wall of the fort-- and a little chunk of snow tumbles down, as his distraction makes his control waver.]

[batteredbatter]

Ack, ptooe... bleh... hey, wait, is that just snow?!

[Yeah, he finally noticed that probably...was not a real castle there]

[niepokonany]

[Feliks blinks down at him, leaning on the edge.]

Hmm?

Oh, right... I mean, I guess that depends what you mean by "is"?

[Like, it's stone now, because he's decided it is, and that little aspect of his reality is reality for now.]

[...At least until he spaces out about it.]

[batteredbatter]

Well, is it snow or isn't it?

[He picks up a snowball and this time he remembers to throw the darn thing at the castle wall]

[niepokonany]

Well, like, what do you think it is? Isn't that what's real?

[batteredbatter]

What? That's not how reality works.

[Lobbing more snowballs]

It's snow, isn't it?

[niepokonany]

[The snowballs turn into little mini canonballs, and bounce off of the walls, then fall and punch holes in the snow, deeper than a snowball would make. If Koshi cares to check, there are snowballs in the holes, but the little craters are still there.]

I mean, kinda? I told you, it's kind of flexible around me.

[Reality, that is, not snow. And this is just... no big deal to him.]

[batteredbatter]

[Okay, that's disconcerting]

What... that's cheating! What the heck are you doing to them!

[niepokonany]

Dude, don't make a big deal about it! I just, like, imagined they were cannonballs for a sec. I'm not even doing anything to them anymore!

[batteredbatter]

How does that even work? You... "imagined" them?

[niepokonany]

Not exactly?

Like, I can't imagine something from nothing. I just kinda... think about things like they're a little different, and they are for a bit!

It's what I do to my clothes, like, all the time.

[batteredbatter]

Well, clothes are clothes but... snowballs and cannonballs are pretty different!

[niepokonany]

I mean, not that different? It basically just depends how easily I can imagine it, and they're pretty much the same shape, anyway.

Like, I turned a knife into a fish in a fight one time!

[batteredbatter]

If you say so... [Iron and snow are pretty darn different in Koshi's mind.]

A fish!? Like, a live fish?

[niepokonany]

Huh? No, no, it was totally dead...

[batteredbatter]

Uh, gross. And I'm not sure that's any less weird!

[niepokonany]

What? They're both, like, thin and silver and kinda move fast. Plus, it's way better to get hit with a fish than a knife!

[batteredbatter]

Okay, true. I mean that last part... I don't really think a metal object and a live... er, dead animal are that alike.

[niepokonany]

I mean, you don't have to focus so much on the dead part? It's not like it was rotting or something, it was just like you'd find in a store! Anyway, wouldn't it be weirder if I could make things that weren't alive alive?

[batteredbatter]

Well, yeah, that's be weird too, though "formerly alive" is only slightly less weird.