SINISTER FINALE

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: Those who signed up for the punching dinosaurs Savage Lands mission
WHAT: Time to get a cure
WHERE: Savage Land Nature Preserve
WHEN: October 10th
WARNING(S): Violence, language, etc

The Blackbird was getting quite a bit of use, lately. It left the Institute early, before the sun was properly up—from there, it was a straight line from New York to Antarctica, with no stops between. The paperwork had been cleared, official permission granted for the team to enter an international wildlife reserve. There would be no scandalous headlines of border-crossing house parties this time, thank you very much.

The glasslike surface of the Antarctic Ocean stretched away endlessly beneath the plane, disappearing into a fog-clouded horizon.

They weren’t there quite yet.

But they would be soon.

Comments

[friendofdorothy]

Liir is calm. His nose is buried in a book: The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook. He's sure that any one of the scenarios presented is likely enough on this trip. He's also trying to get some calm before the veritable animal chatterbox The Savage Land will be.

This of course means that you should bother him.

[anythingspossible]

Joss sat Liir and attempted to place her hand on his shoulder.

"Howdy there."

[friendofdorothy]

His calm momentarily broke, hand automatically going to the one on his shoulder, and he turned quickly towards the source. He'd been a bit paranoid lately. But its owner seemed friendly. It took him a moment to remember what 'howdy' meant.

"...Hello."

He wanted to ask: you're Texan, do you know anything about surviving in the wilderness? You know, because that's what Texans do, camp out under the stars with their horses. And anyone who says 'howdy' is a Texan. But he held his tongue.

[anythingspossible]

(ooc note: I didn't mean to stereotype. That's just how she talks.)

Joss leaned a little closer, but lowered her voice.

"Ya sound a little nervous there, partner. This yer first rodeo? If it is ya ain't gotta worry none..." Joss took out a weapons, that resembled a gun combined with a spool of rope. She aimed at the wall.

"I'll be right here ta back ya up."

The fact that Liir was bigger, and older than Joss didn't seem to faze the girl.

[friendofdorothy]

[The stereotyping is all on Liir's end]

This is exactly what he imagined living in America would sound like before he left Oz. He looked with barely detectable alarm at the weapon and resolved to get well out of the way if he saw her unholster it.

"Well...ah sure do...'preciate it...little lady?"

He tried so hard to sound like her and he failed so bad.

[anythingspossible]

Joss giggled. She got a kick out of Liir's attempt to speak "Hombre"

She leaned close again.

"Where ya from, stranger?"

Joss kept her disarming smile. She meant no harm, even if she did refer to Liir as a "stranger".

[friendofdorothy]

Liir went a little green. Though that could be interpreted as airsickness it was actually the color he blushed. He didn't appear hostile or freaked out but showed very little reaction otherwise. But then, he usually didn't anyway.

"Oz."

That isolated archipelago in the Atlantic. Part of yet not part of both Europe and Africa, restive but old fashioned.

[anythingspossible]

Joss looked over Liir with a raised brow, wondering if he was getting sick, but then he said something that made sense of it

"Oz!" She asked.

"Ya mean that country with all them witches?"

It was her turn to stereotype.

[friendofdorothy]

That actually made Liir look a little amused.

"That it is."

Well, just the three, with two of them dead and the third having put her wild younger hijinks behind her.

[anythingspossible]

Joss' mouth dropped a bit, but then her smile came surging back.

"That is spankin!" She cheered slapping her knee. "Specially since Halloween is comin round the corner! Oh da ya gotta broom?"

[friendofdorothy]

That was certainly more enthusiasm than he'd ever heard for his homeland.

"I do, actually." It's in his luggage. Never know when you're gonna need to deploy your dead mom's stuff to get out of a tricky situation. "Although dressing up as a witch for halloween would be like...well, you dressing as Uncle Sam. Or a cowboy."

[anythingspossible]

Joss chuckled again. "Well I guess it would." She sat for a second then reached out to put her hand around Liir's shoulder.

"We're gonna be great friends, which reminds me."

Joss reached into her pocket and lifted out a black, plastic, circle, on the tip of her finger, small enough to fit in a person's ear.

"This here is a communicator. Put it in yer ear, and you'll be able to talk ta me at a distance of ten miles. Plus I'll know if yer hurt, cause it's always scannin yer body fer injuries."

[friendofdorothy]

Liir wonders why people keep wanting to be his friend. And offer him interesting but seemingly untested treatments for things. He took the little button thingy and examined it with a dubious eye.

"Well thank you but...What if my organs suddenly change?"

[anythingspossible]

Joss takes a moment to stare bewildered. It was the first time anyone ever questioned the use of her communicator, and what a question it was.

"Uhhh. What's yer power now?"

[friendofdorothy]

"One is imitating the physical traits of animals I come across."

He squints at the communicator, then glances at its creator. She seems pretty young. He'd guess twelve to fourteen. What had he been doing at that age? Mooning over Dorothy? Wondering if he'd ever make friends with someone he wasn't related to and/or an animal? That she hasn't accounted for powers that change bodies signifigantly was a big error but still it's impressive that she made it in the first place.

[anythingspossible]

Both brows were raised now.

"That's a neat power, but anywho...The thang will raise a false alarm when you change, but the bigger worry is, if the size of yer ear changes then it ain't gonna fit anymore."

Joss scratched the back of her head nervously. She had goofed and she knew it.

"Ya got any friends that might be able to use a couple of those?"

[friendofdorothy]

It was only one of them. He was glad she hadn't probed further. Answering the the thousandth time what it was like to talk to birds (boring) or see people's memories (uncomfortable) was not what he wanted to do right then.

"My team probably will. And I suppose I could just clip it to my ear."

A long pause. Something was occuring to him.

"Do these use a different frequencie than we normally use?"

It would be good to have a way of communicating the rest of the X-Men couldn't find out about.

[anythingspossible]

Joss may have been the one person in the Xavier institute who had never heard of Gene Nation, or their philosophy.

"Well ta be honest with ya...the frequency is different..." Thinking falsely that this was minus of her communicator she quick whipped out her smart phone.

"But I can change it! Heck, gotta smart phone? I can send ya the app ta change it yourself if ya want."

[friendofdorothy]

Easy to change on the fly? Even better.

"Thank you. We'll do that if we get back. I don't know how the Blackbird's electronics react to cellular phones."

He tried to smile in response but probably just ended up looking queasy. A bit of a hint to his outlook on life could be gleaned from that sentence too: 'if', not 'when'.

[anythingspossible]

Joss smiled wide and bright when her tech had been redeemed, and the fact he looked like he might be a tad air stick didn't bother her none.

"Spankin! I'll tell ya all need ta know about it the second were back home, Mr."

Joss eyes lit up a bit when she suddenly realized she had been forgetting something.

"Hey. Didn't get yer name."

[friendofdorothy]

The kid looked happy. At least someone was. He'd hated jungles since Bangra and all those animals talking was going to be noisy.

"Liir."

Liir Ko, at least according to his student records.

[anythingspossible]

"Name's Joss Possible. Good ta meet ya."

Joss extended her hand to shake, but turbulence shook her first.

"Now what in tarnation? Joss looked out the nearest window.

"Somethin ain't right. I better check it out, but I'm lookin forward ta workin with ya Liir."

Joss rose from her chair to speak to the pilots about what was up, but when she did a few locks of her hair just happened to have been left behind.