HEAVY IS THE HEAD: Part One, SINISTER LEGACY Fallout

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: The Students and Faculty of the Xavier Institute
WHAT: Charity work in District X, but things are getting bad again
WHERE: District X
WHEN: Thanksgiving Weekend
WARNING(S): Violence, language, etc

So this was Christmas, and War was Not Over. The soup lines, this time, were alongside official Vaccine Centers, cures to the Legacy Virus being handed out alongside plates of hot food for the needy. Once more, winter was bleak in the world of mutants living in forced squalor. Attitudes were not particularly bright. People were no longer dying in the streets from illness, but were conditions really any better? War with Genosha was imminent. The National Guard was already standing post around the community, enforcing curfews, treating the area now more than ever like an internment community. Xavier's students were allowed to move around freely, but only with special ID badges that marked them as such. It was the same all over the country.

This wasn't Mutant Registration... it somehow felt worse. And it didn't help that the Mutant Liberation Front was still very active in the area, and many of them entirely blamed the X-Men for Renko's apparent 'death'. There were antagonistic forces around them, and desperate faces looking at them for some kind of hope. And if they couldn't get it there...

There were whispers, a lot of them, about fleeing to Genosha. About joining the MLF and working alongside Genosha for 'true' mutant liberation. About kickstarting this war on local soil. And really...

... was there anything the X-Men could do to stop it? Should they stop it?

Comments

SOUP LINE

[astonishing_xmods]

Hungry are the desperate huddled masses. And cold, too. This was a regular thing, for Xavier's students to be handing out blankets, heating units, and hot meals. But this year felt so much worse than the years before then...

[totallystoned]

Reki was there of course, but seemingly going through the motions. She was looking at the grey, overcast sky as she ladled out soup. Yet she didn't have the circles around her eyes indicating she'd pulled a nighter on a project.

Her wings were uncovered, shivering in the cold. The tips of each feather were darker...

[princesstenko]

Uncovered, but not for long. A blanket quickly found its way over them, already warmed, and they were pat gently to try and put some circulation back into them.

"Goodness, what sense is there in working this line if you can't even care for yourself..." the voice was as warm as the blanket, in spite of its chiding.

[totallystoned]

Reki practically jumped. The tense couple months had rubbed off on her. But when she saw who it was, her expression softened.

"Ran..."

[princesstenko]

"I suppose I should say 'surprise' or something like that, hmm?" Ran's tails swished about, wrapping up along Reki as Ran took position beside her, also helping spoon out some food with a smile that never seemed to fade, in spite of the dreary world around them.

[totallystoned]

Reki tried not to look too pleased. Ran's leaving had stung her even if it wasn't her own fault. But her wings subconsciously twitched with happiness. She felt a little warmer.

"Maybe...It is a little early for a surprise this good."

She looked immediately back to her soup. That had been way too corny for the aloof yet amused image she projected.

[princesstenko]

Ran giggled, batting at Reki with one of her tails.

"It took quite a bit to get Yukari to agree to taking care of Chen for awhile..." which meant she was there alone. No distractions. But it also ran rather completely contrary to Yukari's policy of neutrality...

[soccerwhisperer]

Tenma comes up with a fresh pot of soup, noticing Reki's wings right away. He bites his lip. It was hard not to let his emotional sensory go into autopilot and pry into her emotional state. He sets the pot down at her station.

"Is something bothering you Reki?" He asks quietly in Japanese. It was less likely someone would eavesdrop this way.

[totallystoned]

The change is immediate. Reki visibly snaps back to reality.

"No, just chilly I guess..."

The smile's a little weak. Reki's never minded the cold before.

[soccerwhisperer]

Tenma gives her a look. He didn't need his mutant powers to tell something was off. He took a deep inhale, mustering his courage to ask the uncomfortable questions.

"Wouldn't your wings be warmer under your coat?"

He didn't break his gaze, using his telekinesis to switch out the pots as soon as he heard the ladle scrape the bottom of the old pot.

[totallystoned]

She glanced back. Christ. Tenma couldn't see her slipping like that.

"...Heh, guess I forgot."

She immediately went to work on the next pot as soon as it hit the table.

"So I heard you got a visitor."

[long_live_the_queen]

Kaede took one look at the masses of people, the lines trailing around corners--and turned on her heel, making a straight line for the back of the building where they were unloading the trucks of food and supplies instead.

Headphones or not, she was not dealing with all the voices and colors and presences beating at her mind, not now.

...but she still wanted to help, even if crowds made her feel nauseous. These were mutants. People like her. Not people like them, the human soldiers--the prison guards. Whenever she caught a glimpse of one, she glared angrily at their backs, but didn't say anything.

She hadn't said a single word all day.

[friendofdorothy]

Liir had learned through bitter experience that you couldn't coax Kaede out of a sulk (he was almost as bad a sulker himself, too). You just had to stick nearby. If she really wanted you gone, she'd find a way to let you know.

Two quiet people worked quietly.

[long_live_the_queen]

The horned mutant turned her head back slightly, acknowledging Liir's presence before she jumped up into the truck. Her vectors grabbed onto one of the taller stacks, pulling a pallet of blankets down to pass it to him.

She stopped to glower at an armored vehicle passing by on the other end of the street, muttering.

[friendofdorothy]

Ah. A vocalization. It can speak.

He caught the pallet, paused with it braced on the lip of the truck bed.

"It seems like the time for waiting is almost over."

[long_live_the_queen]

More muttering! Then, grudgingly, actual words.

"I wish they'd stop pretending they're not going to turn their guns on us."

Not that she had anything to fear from regular bullets. But that wasn't the same for everyone.

[soundandfurry]

So it was up to Kagerou to speak for her.

"I don't get it... why are all of those soldiers here? No one seems to be very happy that the virus is being cured..."

[long_live_the_queen]

Dammit.

Fine.

She supposed she could talk for a little bit. Though Kaede didn't stop what she was doing, bringing down a stack of boxes from the truck to a flatbed trolley.

"Humans still hate us. They don't trust us."

[soundandfurry]

"But that's not true! I made an errand into town and no one threw a rock at me!" Of course that was Salem Centre, not exactly a good example of humanity at its worse...

[long_live_the_queen]

"Did they see your ears?" Kaede asked. There was more she could say, could ask, but words seemed like more of an effort than unloading every single truck was.

[droppedbucket]

Some people didn't have the skills to do much. Kisume was one of them, being often underfoot due to how she moved and with her still being so small. She kept going back and forth, looking for things to do but for now had settled outside, keeping her attention on the boxes. Just in case something smelled weird..

But at one point she'll approach, a worried whine escaping her.

"...You okay? Quiet...Keep busy?"

[long_live_the_queen]

Kaede looked back over her shoulder, though she didn't need to; she'd know that spot of green thoughts anywhere. And she sighed this time, instead of muttering. She'd probably scared her.

"I'm fine." Just cranky, and sullen, and irritable, and shoving all of the latest negative feelings into a bottle. Kaede was not fine.

The horned mutant sat down on the edge of the truck; she supposed she could stop for a little. There was plenty of room for Kisume to sit, with almost a third of the truck clear.

[droppedbucket]

For a moment, Kisume kept still, trying to figure out if it was best to leave well enough alone. It takes a moment before she stands and climbs up beside Kaede and dangling her legs off the side. It was a unusual way of her sitting but for now...

"Not seem okay. Sure? Not want be upset."

With everything going, even with her spending more time with the people from home Kisume still worried about those she was attached to. At the same time, she would respect Kaede's wishes if she didn't want to say anything.

"...Can go if not want to talk."

[long_live_the_queen]

Kaede put her hand on Kisume's shoulder, as if the child was some flighty bird to be held onto.

"...I don't want you to leave. I just...don't want to talk. To other people. Most people."

She sighed.

"People are going to be...very noisy today. For me."

It wasn't as bad as the concert, but. It was hard to top that one.

[knighterrantofthedragon]

So long as there wasn't trouble, Alric was to all appearances just another student helping with the distribution of what was needed--including food and and blankets, but also a reassuring presence, confident that conditions would improve--but he kept an eye out for problems looming. The question, of course, was at what cost exactly that improvement would come, atop what had been lost already. But burdening the desperate with those worries would do little to help them when the material necessities and the hope to survive and push on were the most pressing issues at hand; those concerns, he kept very much to himself.