xavier_institute_logs | The Ashes of the Phoenix [OPEN]

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The Ashes of the Phoenix [OPEN]

WHO: John Sublime, "No Girl", the U-Men, and their unfortunate target... The Insitute
WHAT: Sublime's U-Men attack the school. They're aiming for the sublevels. Stop them at all costs!
WHERE: Throughout campus
WHEN: Past midnight, Wednesday-Thursday
WARNING(S): Gonna get violent.

The time was now. The media attention over his followers actions was too much. And after all, Xavier's little henchmen in London had figured it out. He was sure of it. There was no more time to bide. No more room for hesitation. It was act now, or the revolution would end in a prison cell, festering away in the disgusting care of this unclean world. Sublime couldn't stomach it. Couldn't fathom it. And whatever god help those who stood in the way of him and his dream of Homo Perfectus.

"All units are in place," Sublime whispered, peering out over the immaculate green, covered in moonlight, staring a drilling, piercing hole into the mansion. "Martha... it's your turn now," another whisper, as the floating apparatus before him, holding a strange glowing orb, began to shine even more brightly.

Just like that, the security systems failed. And just like that, Charles Xavier gasped and sent out a short, psychic burst to all X-Men, perhaps to everyone in the school, before he was overwhelmed and silenced, collapsing from his bed to the floor, stunned into sleep by a psychic force even he was not prepared for.

"This is it, Martha... our dream... U-Men! Bring me the Ashes of the Phoenix!" And like that, dozens of the men from the blurred video that Glamour and Spy had managed to obtain swarmed the ground, organic and mechanical, using a plethora of stolen mutant powers, attacked.

[[ This is it! Our first major action post, and in X-Men tradition, it's a direct attack on campus. Feel free to start your own threads. The U-Men will be NPC'd by the mods. Their ultimate goal is the filed away genetic samples of Jean Grey in the sublevels. They must be stopped, before someone uses them to integrate Jean's powers into a U-Man. ]]

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"Oh, I'm... I'm all right." So says the man bleeding from the long slash down his arm. He probably should have done a better job of getting out of the way, but a desire to help, in spite of his unsuitability for combat, had spurred him on. He probably looks worse than he is, considering his frail appearance. He begins to struggle to his feet. It's only a superficial wound, even if his sleeve is torn and soaked with blood. "Thank you, but I can't stay here."

Luvander rolls his eyes a bit as he leans in to lend a supportive arm to the man struggling to his feet, taking the opportunity to brush his fingers briefly over the skin at the back of his neck. Dear, but the poor chap's body is a bit of a mess in general, isn't it? He doesn't really want to know what kind of thing would do that to it. Still, most of it is beyond his ability to fix; the gash on his arm is not. But he doesn't take the liberty of simply healing without permission, because he considers this rather disrespectful and rude.

"What I mean is that I can heal you, if you'd like. It won't take more than a second-" at least for Kariya "-and it will be absolutely painless-" for Kariya "-so staying put here definitely won't be a necessity. Really, there is nothing to be worried about at all."

"You're a healer?" Kariya smiles faintly, in spite of the grave situation. "What a useful gift." He used to wish he had a gift like that, one that could help people, even if he doesn't like to discount his own gift, or anyone else's. Sometimes it's hard, though, when so many people are in danger and there's not much he can do about it. "That should be all right, then. Thank you."

He nods. "I have to get to the children." Not that Luvander isn't one of them, but the older students are more or less adults, and even though Kariya feels a protective urge toward them, he knows a lot of them are on teams and are training for this. He doesn't want to discourage them, even if it goes against his instincts to let them get involved in this. He manages to restrain himself this time.

"I do try to be," Luvander murmurs, and the implied modesty does seem just a tad exaggerated. But it's mostly in a way which suggests that he is always playing it up to an audience, even in situations like this, as if taking anything seriously somehow bothers him. There is at least a sympathetic nod at the mention of the children, among which Luvander has long since ceased to count himself in any case, although his assessment isn't always correct. But at the very least, he is used to handling himself in battle.

Having been given the permission he sought for, he once more brushes his fingers against the wounded man's skin, concentrating. There is a moment of balance tilting between them, of the universe shifting just a tiny bit, and then Luvander hisses in pain despite himself. It is a rather shallow cut, he can feel that, but it's never pleasant to have your skin split as if it's made of wet paper, blood rushing forward as if eager to get out before the healing factor takes over and once more starts to close it. At any rate, Luvander halts, swaying slightly. Adams would have given him an earful about not healing a bleeding wound while sitting down by now. "Ah, if you would give me a moment, I'll have this sorted soon."

Edited 2014-10-18 05:57 (UTC)

Unlike Luvander, Kariya's response is completely open and sincere. He looks pained, then relieved as the wound disappears, but then—confused.

It takes Kariya a few moments to figure out what's happened. When the blood appears on Luvander's arm, just where Kariya's wound was moments ago, he understands. "Oh, no... You shouldn't have done that." Of course, he doesn't want someone to suffer pain, even if it's temporary pain, on his account. But he's also worried that Luvander might take in more damage than he intends, because of Kariya's old injuries. It's probably not a danger, but he worries nonetheless. He doesn't want anyone to feel anything remotely like what he's felt in the past. "It wasn't worth it." He can endure a lot of pain, and he'd rather do that than inflict it on anyone else. "Of course, let me help you." He reaches out a hand to steady Luvander, not wanting to see him stumble or fall.

Luvander smiles kindly, waving his uninjured arm for a moment as if to gently brush away the other's protests. "It's quite alright, though I do of course greatly appreciate the concern. But this is my gift, and it would be rather incredibly silly of me not to use it - and besides, this is nothing." And true enough, the wound is already starting to close up, such a relatively clean cut being among the easiest things to heal. He doesn't like to mention that if there was any way for him to pick up the damage that had already been done to the poor man, he would indeed have been in a considerably poorer state, but the thought is there nonetheless; the very least he can do is take on this much.

"Besides which," he adds in his most reasonable tone of voice, the one that used to drive the other boys hopping mad back home, "you will be able to help the children better with the use of both arms, will you not? And certainly better if you don't faint from blood loss; it's very hard to come in handy like that, unless you possibly count as a blunt instrument."

"That's true, we should all learn to use our gifts to our best advantage, and everyone else's." He nods, because he believes this wholeheartedly, that everyone can make a difference, and that every gift has its benefit. "Thank you. I just didn't expect it to hurt you." He feels a little guilty for allowing someone else to take on his pain, if only temporarily. And Luvander seems fine, so that's good. He's relieved, following the surprise of it.

"You're right, it's better for them." Kariya responds positively to that reasonable voice. "I hope I'll never have to find out whether I make a good blunt instrument." That's one thing he's never experienced and doesn't want to.

"Would you mind coming with me? One of the children might be hurt. I don't have any healing ability, myself." He also has an ulterior motive, as he wants to get Luvander out of the fighting. He is a student, and Kariya would feel responsible if he didn't do his best to keep him safe.

"Point of order, my dear: You didn't hurt me, I did. People get awfully confused about that sort of thing, so there's no need to feel embarrassed! But I always have a choice whether to heal or not, so if I do I feel it's entirely my responsibility... and that of course means I can take all of the credit." He winks, voice curiously lighthearted for someone who happens to be standing on the edges of a battlefield. His friends used to remark that he almost never takes a damn thing seriously unless forced to, and Luvander is fairly at peace with this.

"Oh, and you really don't. One time, my friend Ghislain picked up a man by his feet and beat his comrades senseless with him. Strength isn't even a mutation of his; he's just alarmingly huge and it was a skinny little man. It was still quite a sight to behold." He prattles on amiably even as he starts walking down the corridor, forcing down the vague wave of nausea that always comes with replenishing blood. He is not quite so silly that he does not understand that the older man wants him out of the battle, and while in a way it's laughable that this frail, soft-spoken creature is trying to protect him from battle and not the other way around, he can understand the sentiment. Powerful or not, they had all tried to protect Balfour as much as possible, had they not? It's natural to care for the young.

Oh, and Luvander is a healer. His priority is always with the wounded, not in battle. He halts momentarily, smiling up at Kariya. "It's this way, isn't it?"

Edited (omg HOMEWORK r u serious autocorrect????) 2014-10-20 09:28 (UTC)

He seems like a nice boy, thinks Kariya. He's confident, and he has a kind way of talking. "All right. If you put it like that." He can't object if it was Luvander's choice. He must understand his power better than anyone. He's old enough that Kariya can respect his decision, even if he still feels guilty about it.

"I don't think I'd like to behold that sight. I hope the man wasn't too badly hurt." Kariya wouldn't hold up well under that kind of treatment, and the thought of it isn't particularly appealing. He shies away from anything violent, unless forced into it. He gives a faint smile. "I'll just have to try to avoid find out what that's like."

He's glad when Luvander decides to go with him. He knows some of the students are stubborn about fighting. He can understand why! They want to do their part and help, but he worries about them. Many of them aren't prepared for something like this. Children at ordinary schools aren't expected to fight. For mutants, it should be no different. It makes sense to him to keep a healer out of harm's way, but even more so when the healer is still numbered among the students. "Yes, that's right. This way." Having been healed, he's having no trouble moving now. His older injuries have left him weakened, but he can walk well enough.

Luvander sends Kariya a strange sideways look then, as if what he just said really had made very little sense to him. "I'm pretty sure he died. Spines aren't really made to withstand that sort of thing, and I'm certain I heard his neck snap, though I didn't exactly stick around to check on his health. It's not considered entirely appropriate to get too worked up about your enemies' wounds, especially when your side is doing the wounding." He speaks incredibly calmly, but there is a hint of gentleness there, as if he understands that this must be shocking to Kariya, and he's trying to express himself in a way that isn't too upsetting.

Because the thing is, Luvander has been at this school for three months, albeit secluded in a more private part of it, and under careful surveillance both by social workers and X-men. So far, the lack of fighting is what has taken the most to get used to. Though there honestly is a part of him that wants to stay in battle just for the familiarity of it, there is a part of him that sounds a lot like Sergeant Adamo, telling him that just because he's a damn fool by nature doesn't mean he's excused for acting like one.

Oh, and he does agree with Kariya. Children should not be expected to fight. And if they're forced to anyway, they need someone there to heal them. "Thank you, by the way. I still have some troubles finding my way around; I'm afraid I'd be quite lost here without you." And for reminding him of where he ought to be as well.

"Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't think you meant that entirely literally." Wishful thinking, he supposes. Based on his manner of speech, Luvander seems like someone who might, well, not embellish deceitfully, but make things sound more grand with figures of speech. Kariya's been living in America for years now, but it will never be his first language, and colorful speaking tends to throw him off. At the truth, he looks deeply sad. He knows about children fighting, and his father did attempt to bully him into that kind of behavior, but, well, nothing had worked out for either him or his father, but especially not for Kariya. Children in combat, that's just horrible.

"It's not a problem at all," he says earnestly. "I'm always happy to help." He smiles again, because he is always glad to be of some use, in ways big or small. He walks a little faster, taking the lead.

"We should get to know each other better, when this is over." Because it will be over, and everyone will be fine! He's just going to keep telling himself that. "I'm one of the counselors here."

It's very true that hyperbole is practically a second language to Luvander - indeed like English is as well. But all the Dragons had been given some basic education in a handful of languages, and while they were not exactly encouraged to pursue this further - more like the opposite - Luvander had found continued studies worthwhile. Even though 'continued studies' is a somewhat grand way of describing pursuing just about any popular media which the censors would let through, such books and movies as they were allowed functioning as their own private windows toward the rest of the world.

He'd found he had an ear for it too. As anyone who knew him found out, he certainly knew how to talk.

Now he smiles a little bit slyly at Kariya, raising one eyebrow pointedly. "That segue right there could use a little bit of work, in my opinion. The implication that I obviously need counseling was just a tad too obvious, and I know for a fact that certain kinds of people - teenagers notably - can take violent offense at such things." But the gentle mockery aside, Luvander doesn't look very offended. He shrugs his angular shoulders instead, an amused little hum following shortly. "Though you're right, of course. I have been informed that it would be good for me to see the school counselors, and I'm not so addled that I can't see why. So really, I'm most grateful for the offer. I'm really just being twee."

Kariya grew up speaking Japanese and Russian in the home, and while he speaks English rather well now, sarcasm, hyperbole, and jokes are often lost on him—they are even lost on him in Japanese and Russian, a great deal of the time. Being straightforward and unadorned in speech, he doesn't always clue in on such things himself.

Luvander is clearly a great talker. That's something Kariya doesn't consider one of his skills, although he can appreciate it. He's more of a listener.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that. I think all of us could use someone to talk to, especially at a time like this. I really would like to get to know you better. It doesn't have to be in an official capacity." He says this in all sincerity. "Most people don't mind... There's not as much of a stigma about seeing a counselor as there used to be." That, and Kariya's almost simple sincerity seems to prevent any kinder people from being hard on him.

The sincerity of it all actually does take Luvander aback, and it shows on his face, which most of the time is far too occupied with nebulous dramatics to actually display any genuine reactions. Luvander might be fairly insightful for a boy his age, but natural cynicism - and optimism, a curious mix - often makes him miss rather wildly in his assessment of people's characters.

Already having been caught out in honest surprise, covering it up seems pointless, so he merely laughs and shakes his head. "Then I apologize most sincerely. It really is very awkward of me to make such assumptions of someone I just met." Then again, perhaps the assumption reflect back more on himself than he'd like to admit, and exactly how much he thinks he might need a counselor. "And I don't know much about how these things are done in America. At home, it's my professional opinion - that is, as a professional holder of opinions - that sanity was a rare commodity, and they often tried to counsel those who showed signs of such a gift until they got over it - rather permanently, in some cases." Mental health care in Volstov hadn't been a concern of his, but he suspects it wasn't pretty.

But there comes a point where even Luvander must realize that he's rambling, and so he pauses and smiles disarmingly. "The point I'm trying to make, I think, is that it would be my pleasure to get to know you too, regardless of the counseling involved."

Edited 2014-10-20 20:32 (UTC)

"It's all right." Kariya smiles again as they continue to move. He's used to people assuming things about him, so it doesn't bother him a great deal. Most people's assumptions today are far milder than the ones he had to grow up with. He won't say he's glad he had that kind of childhood, but it did accustom him to many of life's hardships.

"I've lived in the States for a few years now. The system here has its problems, but there are good things about it, too. And a lot of people who try to make a difference. It's much better than it is in some other places, I know." There's a lot more he could say about the issue, but it isn't the time. Comparatively, he doesn't know much about the mental health system in his homeland, because he was kept far away from it by his family, in spite of having mental health problems.

"It would be my pleasure, too. It's nice to have someone to talk to."

As he talks, he remains alert. He leads them outside. The earth is churning around them, slowly. The worms he's called here aren't very fast, but there are so many of them that they're hard to miss, literally millions of them having responded to him. He knows they can't do much in a battle, realistically, but they might be able to serve as a distraction or unbalance people. Outside, he's more aware of the surroundings, as his communication with the worms allows him to sense where animals, including humans, are walking. He has a much better sense of the lay of the land out here.

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The Ashes of the Phoenix [OPEN]

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haha i laughed at homework

I almost shrieked at my phone negl

I figured autocorrect was to blame

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