The Last Stand [OPEN]]

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: Everyone
WHAT: The news of the world, brought right to your school!
WHERE: On any television, radio, or computer screen (assuming they're on a news site)
WHEN: Today
WARNING(S): if a thread goes into warning label territory, either throw it in the subject line or take it to a separate log.

"... sweeping victories in both the House and Senate. Creed and his fellow Last Stand congressmen celebrated today, eager to begin the new legislation they promised in their collective campaign. Senator Creed enthusiastically exclaimed that the era of letting mutants go unchecked were finally going to come to an end..."


"... calling themselves the 'Mutant Liberation Front', or MLF, the campaign of vandalism and propaganda has been extensive in Europe and has started to appear in the United States and Canada as well. The MLF are most recognized by their tag sign of the double helix, along with the word LIBERATE. Most authorities are not incredibly concerned, as the group has been non-violent so far..."


"... as talks have broken down with Genosha. A special ambassador from the United States has been assigned to speak with Genosha on behalf of the US government, Gabrielle Haller, has stated that she will ensure that peace between the two nations will be assured. Haller and President Kelly left for Genosha this morning..."


"... Mutant Arts Council of Greater New York reported record setting turnout for their Halloween charity events in District X and are now focusing on their next seasonal event for the coming holidays. The Council is also looking for volunteers for District X soup kitchens for the winter months..."


"... making her the only platinum record seller in 2018. Industry analysts say that the hype that came as a result of Dazzler's coming out spiked the sales of her album well past anything else that's been release this year. Billboard expects "Mojoworld" to make the double platinum certification before the end of the year, with the Christmas shopping season approaching..."


"... projecting the coldest winter in the last twenty years for much of the United States. Certain voices outside the scientific community have gone from denying climate change to accepting it, under the caveat that climate change is now being blamed on possible mutant interference... "

[[ 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

open

[denialism]

[Adachi is once again eating in public, a thing that he does every so often, usually when he's too lazy to take his food back to his room. He doesn't seem to be paying much attention to the news at all. In fact, he seems to be playing a game on his phone. But at the end of the news, he sets down his phone, looks up, and frowns, suddenly grave. Something very serious has obviously occurred to him.]

Oh, it's gonna be that cold? What a pain.

[That was actually the only thing in the entire news report that Adachi found worth commenting on.]

[kamiizumi]

Tell me about it.

[Being a turtlemutant: sometimes super not fun.]

open

[soccerwhisperer]

[When the news report shows the double helix graffiti, Tenma can't help but stare at it while he's chewing a snack]

I heard of them! I even had a dream where my great grandson or something led them...

[icy_heavens]

[Yeah, that last part gets a bit of a side-eye.] ... What. [It's not even a question, man.]

[monkeythief]

[He pauses for a second and then stares at him.] What was that last part?

[The thing about a great grandson leading them?]

[open]

[shiningscales]

[After lunch, on his way back to his office, Caelius passes through one of the common lounges. He still has some time, so when he sees the news is playing, he stops to listen. It's not until he hears about the weather, and certain groups' reactions to such, that he sighs.]

Well, if that's how it is, I wish they would have talked to me about it first.

[There are a lot things he could comment on, but that's he says instead, because if he doesn't joke all his hair will fall out.]

[denialism]

[Adachi looks at Caelius with an unusually sharp wariness, because he doesn't like counselors, disliking them enough to actually pay attention to them and remember who they are. But after a moment's hesitation, he responds. Because he has a big mouth and likes to talk.]

They wouldn't care. Guys like that just want to watch the world burn. Or freeze.

No, definitely freeze.

[Not that he's saying said guys exist, but if they did, that would be the case!]

[kamiizumi]

[There is at least one student in the lounge who can definitely commisserate over cold weather.]

If we're all supposed to be united in the mutant agenda, somebody owes me a better coat for this.

[icy_heavens]

Yeah, I guess I should've consulted with people first. [It's likely not possible for a voice to be dripping more sarcasm than Toushirou's right now. He might not talk much in counseling sessions, but he'll take the opportunity to gripe about the stupidest part of the news. Simply because it's that stupid.]

open

[defibrillating]

Shit.

[No, really, that's pretty much all he can sign about it before he's turning off the TV in the faculty lounge. Zian rubs his the bridge of his non-existent nose with a deep sigh.

Things were going to get really, really bad. He had to call his mom. He had to tell her to leave messages to the morlocks. Maybe they'll hide.

...maybe they'll get pissed again and fight, and he really didn't want that to happen. Not when he wasn't around to heal them.

God, he really didn't want to be registered.]

Re: open

[echoing_sutras]

All the more reason to fight back.

-Wait, what? That was Kyouko's voice, for sure. The hell was she doing on the faculty level? Well the box of cables in her arms probably had something to do with that. Grabbing stuff from Dr McCoy for the radio station, no doubt.-

General Lounge, OPEN!

[niepokonany]

[With the school year in full swing, Feliks is spending more time than he'd anticipated on students' papers and his own thesis. This afternoon, he's taken up about half a couch in the lounge for himself and his books, with the TV on for background noise.]

[Election]

[Any non-Polish speakers in the room are probably going to have a tough time getting more from Feliks's ranting than his facial expressions could provide on their own. Thankfully (?), those are expressive enough in their own right, and Feliks looks just about ready to set something on fire.]

{Are you even serious right now, this is the lamest, this is so dumb, I swear to god! 'Letting mutants go unchecked' -- Yeah, 'cause it's not like we're attacked in the streets or in our beds at school or anything! It's totally not like we're legally discriminated against already! God, how can one person be full of that much shit? Like, how does it even fit?!}

[Mutant Liberation Front]

Ok, no, but like, what's their actual platform? Hang on...

[He puts down his computer, picking up the tablet to do a little side research on this issue...]

[Genosha]

...Well, that's like, something, at least. Kinda surprised the president's going with!

[Mutant Arts Council]

That might actually be kinda fun! Hey, you wanna go try it sometime? Like, the soup thing?

[Dazzler]

So have you like listened to it yet? It's kinda just-okay, I think, but the title track is mad fierce!

[Climate Change]

Oh. My god. Like, tell me they're kidding!

[He opens up a new document and narrates as he types:]

"It doesn't exist, unless it's not my fault: lame-ass excuses and the right wing."

...I might actually write this, make an op-ed about it! What do you think? It'd be pretty rad, right?

Election

[nobodysweapon]

*Laura's education was weird, it included all the basics. How to kill a man without leaving a mark, how to kill a man making it as obvious as possible, every language they thought she might be able to use while going around killing people.*

{You should read the mechanics of Pym Particles to understand how to adjust mass.}

[Genosha]

[turbedon]

That just makes it seem more and more likely that it's actually Mystique in disguise. This would be a good way for her to go report directly to Magneto without needing to sneak around.

MLF

[psykick]

[Rinka leans over the back of the couch to peer at the screen.]

'LIBERATE' ... that means 'to set free', yes?

election

[shiningscales]

...Um.

Are you okay?

[Well, obviously not, but the point is that Caelius is Concerned.]

MLF

[batteredbatter]

[Yeah, Koshi was kind of confused too]

Uh, yeah, "liberation" is cool and all but are they doing anything besides graffiti?

OPEN, Multiple choice!

[koukai_kirai]

[Hijikata sits in his empty classroom to watch the news, primarily interested in the election results. He's got a stack of papers to grade during the slow segments, at least.]

[Election]

[There are a handful of small victories here and there -- ballot initiatives overturned and passed, a few gubernatorial candidates he'd been following getting into office, this and that.]

[By and large, though, the whole thing has him frowning, frequently getting up to write notes in Japanese on the whiteboard.]

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

[Mutant Liberation Front]

[This one is a little new to him -- an unknown. He goes to his desk, takes out a worn notebook, and flips to an open page of it, starting to jot down anything useful-sounding the anchor says, turning on his tablet to conduct a little more research when the commercials play.]

[Genosha]

They're shooting themselves in the foot, at this rate.

[Hopefully, the president has the first damn clue what he's doing... but Hijikata isn't convinced Genosha knows how to effectively pursue its own interest, so he's not about to hold his breath even if he does.]

[Mutant Arts Council]

[He's mostly working on his papers during this feature, though he does glance up from time to time. He's all in favor of an organized, supportive mutant community, but this one really isn't his issue.]

[Dazzler]

[Same as above, but he hits the mute button as soon as a clip from one of her songs actually starts playing and only looks up again to check if something interesting has started yet. Damn kids these days with their shit taste in music...]

[Climate Change]

"Voices outside the scientific community." People with no actual understanding, in other words. Why give them air time at all?

[For controversy, he's sure -- or, on the more biased of the networks, to "show the other side of the story" favored by their own more extreme viewer base. But honestly, airing those sorts of opinions in the mainstream media just legitimizes a bunch of useless nonsense...]

[iaijutsu]

[Some routines are really easy to slide right back into, even after several years of absence.

Doing a fly-by of Hijikata's classroom to scope out his whiteboard notes on the politics of the day? Definitely one of them.]

Hopefully this doesn't herald more old issues coming back to haunt us.

[If they go through the registration debate again - are Sentinel attacks coming next? Is he going to have to repeat junior year? Is Shego going to appear again to hit him with a folding chair and then make out with him? Terrifying thoughts, all of them.]

open

[endurancepoint]

[Election]

[Alex had been trying to work on his American history homework (which he's probably half failing because like hell he knows this shit), but that piece of news just ruins his concentration for the rest of the evening.]

Well, that's just wonderful. Might as well have stayed in Britain at the rate this is going.


[Genosha]

And that is probably the last we'll ever see of him.


[Climate Change]

[Just when Alex was wondering if the news had finally reached new levels of ridiculous, the piece about global warming aired.]

Damn, they figured it out. Should we also fess up to the fact we're behind shrink wrap and vegetarian bacon?

Election

[icy_heavens]

[Not knowing that shit is why you take the class, Alex. But as much of a workaholic as Toushirou is, he hardly begrudges taking breaks to be angry at the news. Because this is a load of crap and demands some anger.]

Last thing we need around here is the first thing we get. Figures.

Open

[garganteren]

[Eren distrusts the liberal news media, and he resents being made to take meals out in public, with the other students. He wants to eat by himself, not out here with all these mutants. So he bolts his food as quickly and angrily as possible, mostly ignoring the news. Yet when he hears the report about the election, he perks up. Finally, something good!]

Good! It's about time. They need to be kept in line.

[Note: He would be much less likely to say this if there were a younger student around, but anyone can feel free to encounter the new kid eating angrily, without the involvement of politics.]

[niepokonany]

[Feliks genuinely pities the Hell out of Eren. And he's trying to have, like, Christian compassion for him, because it's legitimately horrible what's happened to him because of people with and without mutations.]

[But. UGH. Can you please just not be so gross, Eren?]

You mean we. Did you like forget or something?

open!

[sugoooi]

MLF...MLF...

[ Sam's sure he's heard that term before. Or well. Yes, technically, he has. He can't not have in all honestly, but he's sure he's heard it somewhere else a lot more recently and it wasn't on the news. Wrack his brain as he might though he can't quite place it--so instead he just pulls it up on his phone.

While lying on his back in the east lawn, legs propped up and folded over the edge of a cement bench. It is totally not using it wrong, this is how he best thinks. And he is going to get this, he just needs to think a bit harder here... ]

--Oh!! They're the grumpy people that guy mentioned!! [ Nailed it. That totally answers that. ]

[kickstart_my_heart]

-Bridget stared for several moments, blinking at Sam before shaking his head.-

That's not real specific, mate.

open

[lovesreporter]

[ Watching Tv in the common room or wherever is Azusa, sitting cross legged on the ground with a large poster board in front of her on the floor, with different headlines and pictures and things. She's the type of girl who makes projects like these for fun to decorate her room, or try to get to the truth of some story she's heard or read. Though don't be surprised if the picture of two people have an arrow between them that says "Reincarnation?" or "Magically Linked" or some such nonsense.

When the TV starts talking about Dazzler though she's sitting up, eyes wide at the screen. ]

She's so cool! I wish I could be like her...

[soccerwhisperer]

[As he just wandering in, he only hears Azusa comment on the Dazzler report]

Dazzler? She is pretty cool, even though I don't understand her songs most of the time.

open

[killadeadman]

...Anyone else hearin' 'MILF' when they say that? [Classy and productive political conversation!]

[He was on break, lounging on a couch and feet swung up on a table, soda in hand.]

[denialism]

[Adachi looks up from his food.]

Ha ha, MILF. That's a good one, man.

[As he's not a native speaker, that had not occurred to Adachi, but he is familiar with the acronym, and now that the connection's been made, he gets it.]

That sounds like a better news story...

[open]

[mouflon]

[Rin likes to stay on top of current events. Typically, she relies on the internet to do so—but it doesn't hurt to see what they're saying on TV, too, so after dinner, she can be found watching the evening news. When the topic turns to the Mutant Liberation Front, though, she doesn't seem very impressed.]

Jeez. If the authorities are only "mildly concerned," they're not doing a very good job.

[Obviously, they need to step up their game!]

[friendofdorothy]

"Yes, forming a terrorist 'front' should be a matter of utmost concern. And you can never be too careful with people who are weapons in and of themselves."

Liir, who watches TV standing in just the kind of way that tends to agitate people, is being sarcastic. But he's deadpan enough that you could be forgiven for thinking that, like Eren, he's actually pro mutant repression.

Heading to the soup kitchen - Open

[eileaneathompson]

Eli tuned in to one of her clones, briefly, while her other clone was making an escape. The clone she left at Hofstra was one she would probably never contact again physically, so she needed to keep checking in with her, to have any idea of what was going on. A shame, because she was paying for the classes, it would be nice to have the benefit...

The Hofstra clone was sitting on a sofa in the student union, watching the news. The article came on about mutants volunteering to work in a soup kitchen. Some guy in a varsity jacket switched channels to a game, and Eli tuned out.

A soup kitchen. She could do that. She hesitated. She still hadn't made any friends here, though. Andrea had been so unpopular at the last school, and this was her kind of thing, what if the mutants here hated her for doing this? But... what if she made friends here? She couldn't loose friends here, because she didn't have any yet, but she could jeopardize her ability to make any...

But she had to do something more than just sit in her room alone, sulking. Her grades were actually good this term, because she had nothing much to do.

Sighing, she went to her closet and pawed through her clothes. The things she dressed her clones in to separate them from her were in the back, things she'd never wear normally, so no one would guess the clone was her. She pulled out long black pants that were skintight to the knee, then flared at the ankle, and a long loose shirt in red and black. She had some red material that had once been a double wide hair ribbon that she had cut eye-holes into.

Eli got changed into the tight pants, the long shirt, a pair of red heels, and the mask. Then she closed her eyes and focused for a moment. When she opened her eyes again, she was staring at a mirror reflection of herself, absent the glass or frame. She pulled off the eye-mask, then guided the new clone to a chair. She grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the clone's hair short. She fluffed it a bit.

"I hate having short hair," the clone complained. Eli nodded, short hair stunk. But no one would ever think it was her. Other than the teachers, and not even all of them, no one even knew what her mutant power was. She focused on the clone and the clone's hair tinted slightly more towards the red, like she had dipped it in kool-aid. Best she could do. Running so many clones, she was tiring herself out.

(From here down, anyone can feel free to intercept the clone!)

Eli flopped on her bed and focused on her clone as it tried to sneak out of the mansion towards one of the named soup kitchens. The clone walked on the high heels towards the soup kitchen, mask in place, feeling like a soup-er hero. Eli winced at her own bad joke, then checked in with her other clones before focusing on this one again. She walked in and with a badly faked accent told whomever seemed in charge, "I'm here to help."