4833/By the lake

By the lake
Date of Scene:	06 July 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Twitch, Souvenir, Rage, Elixir, Banshee

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Twitch has posed:
"I'm sorry. I was just joking around," Tyler says when he sees Erika's expression, his own look and tone coming off as apologetic and concerned. "I thought you'd just tell me to eat a dick or something." Worried as he is he straightens up his sitting position and asks, "Are we cool? I really didn't mean anything by it."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir sighs. "Yeah, we're cool. Just, some guys really get scary if you tell them to go away, and you never know which is which until it's way too late." She sighs and crosses her arms again.

She mms, "So anyways. um.. cool stuff? Training? Epiphanies?" She tilts her head, "Talk to me. Are you okay?"

Rage has posed:
"Ha. I bet I could tell Tyler to eat a dick and he'd do it." Andrea teases as she leans in against Tyler's shoulder for a playful bump once she settles down next to him.

Twitch has posed:
Nodding his head, Tyler frowns, "I'm sorry to hear that. I don't ever want to make someone uncomfortable like that." His face still shows a deal of worry until Andrea cracks her joke and touches him. He leans back into her and grins, "I'm pretty sure I'm not into dudes and I don't know if I'm into you enough to try it anyway." There's a little chuckle.

Looking back to Erika Tyler says, "I'd like to start training anybody who cares to learn between when I finish my cleaning chores and before I go to the gym. Mondays are off because I visit my family then, but other days I should be free."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir makes a little bit of a face. "Ugh." She hmms.. "I don't know what I need yet. I think I need to make sure I don't break myself using other people's skills, first. Laura's style hurt a lot. Like.. A lot. Then? I don't know. Tactics and stuff I guess. If I have different stuff to work with all the time." She hrms and paces a little in her swimsuit by the fire.

Rage has posed:
"Ooooor... Erika, you could just be a normal student for a bit while you're here at Xavier's and figure out where you want to go from here." Andrea says as she gives Tyler a bump of her shoulder again as he leans into her. "You just got here and you're talking about learning tactics and fighting techniques. I would suggest try to get to know the people around the school first, on a personal level as opposed to a sneaky skill level. That way, when you do decide to mooch off their tricks, it may come easier for you and be less painful. Build a relationship with the target before you do your thingy."

Elixir has posed:
Josh comes wandering back from the mansion looking thoughtful. He takes his spot back down by the fire with a nod to the others. He pokes at it with the end of another log, then places the log on top. "It's not bad advice," he comments absently. "Give it time, look before you leap."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir takes a deep breath and sighs deeply, closing her eyes fort a couple seconds. "Okay. So the other day, I am in the wellness center, and you all come walking in COVERED in blood, because some horrible.. stuff hates you for no good reason. I had NIGHTMARES. They were all about me just WATCHING you being hurt, and I couldn't DO anything. And then I had nightmares about other people being hurt, and I was just standing around and I couldn't do anything."

She sighs a lot. "I hated that feeling. When I see my friends in trouble, I want to HELP them."

Twitch has posed:
"If you want to fight without hurting yourself as bad I'll help you out. Give you some of my hand wraps or gloves or something," Tyler offers with a smile. "I still think you should try to learn for yourself, plus doing drills will help your body work the way it's supposed to in a fight. Conditioning is mad important to being able to handle yourself, especially if you're not a big person who can just knock people out." He gestures at himself, "I got into BJJ because if you can get someone on the ground then you negate a lot of their strength and reach. You're not super tall or buff and BJJ has some of the lowest injury rates of any combat sport."

Tyler goes on to say, "I decided I was going to help people out because I don't want to stand by helpless while innocent people get hurt or killed. I mean, I've got powers and all and it just seems to make sense to me that I should use them to help people. We'll get you a trauma surgeon's stethoscope. Maybe buy a Navy SEAL's knife or something. We'll figure out a way for you to be able to make a difference when people are in danger."

Rage has posed:
"Erika." Andrea sighs softly. "I killed two people without hesitation in the alley that day when we were attacked by mutant hating cyborgs who grows weapons out of their body parts. I yanked their limps off like wings from a fly. I tore them apart. They looked like lasagne when I was done with them. That is /not/ something you want. You think you have nightmares now? I've spent the last two days throwing my guts up and sobbing and blaming myself from everything from climate change to the Yanks having a losing season. I'm very religious and I've spent a lot of time begging the Lord or forgiveness. The moment you pick up a gun, the world sees you as the enemy. You don't want that life. You don't want the feeling of knowing you just ended someone's life when you /should/ have learned to disarm them instead." The popstar shifts her jaw to the side. "You should learn to defend yourself of course, but you shouldn't go looking for trouble either. What happened that day will be forever burned into my memory and it will undoubtedly shape the way I go into these situations from here out. The best way to not be a target is to float under the radar. At least for now, at least until you learn control, real control also." She sighs softly. "The more we fight violently in that way, the more the world will continue to be scared of us and push back even harder. The best way to change minds is through positive change and actions."

Elixir has posed:
Josh listens to Erika and Tyler talk for a bit, then shoots Andrea a look. Then he listens to Andrea as well.

"Trust your friends, Erika. When you grow into you, you won't feel helpless anymore, I promise. And until then, trust us. Trust that we can handle what's out there until you're ready. You'll find a way to help, but... just give it time."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir makes a fist and grinds her teeth a bit. "You don't know anything about me. I can't even sleep. I'm TRYING to do good things."

She sighs. "The people that attacked you might attack anybody else. Any time. I don't know if I feel comfortable with that."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir blows out a breath. "I mean, it's not like they just sit around playing solitaire all day waiting for us to step outside, right? What are they doing? Probably a bunch of people like ME that can't do anything to stop them, right?"

Twitch has posed:
"You want to be proactive? I can get behind that," Tyler says to Erika before pressing his lips together thoughtfully. "I'm all for you getting ready to take on the bad guys. But you had the right idea with figuring out how to do it without getting hurt first, then working on some kind of tactics to use. If you can figure out where the cyborg assholes are at we might be able to take them down and turn them over to the cops so that they're not a threat any more."

His shoulders shrug, "I spent years getting ready before I even attempted to take on real bad guys. I made sure I could dodge anything anybody tried to hit me with and that I could take down guys twice my size. That I had a means of escape, too, and some way to hurt people at a distance."

A deep sigh escapes Tyler, "What do you think we should do about the bad guys? I'm considering a sword so I can take off their robot parts, personally."

Rage has posed:
"I think letting the X-Men handle it is the best idea. Just have one of our telepaths track them down, and let them go in and send them packing and make sure the authorities take care of them. I think us personally, we should continue to work together as a team to hone our skills, figure out our strengths and weaknesses and try and focus on /us/ to make us better." Andrea says to Tyler with a nod of her head. "And Erika, it's awesome to want to do good things, but there is a ton you can do without throwing down with badguys. The fact you can't sleep is something we gotta figure out how to get around without a telepathic fix every night. Miss Munroe has me meditating now to learn control, or at least put my body and my mind at peace. Maybe it can help you also."

Elixir has posed:
Josh lays back in the sand and stares up at the stars while Erika, Tyler and Andrea talk. He smiles a bit to himself, but stays quiet. His phone buzzes in his pocket, but he reaches down and hits the power button without taking the phone out of his pocket.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir nods, "Okay, great, well? I want to work on that so I can quit feeling HELPLESS? And I feel like I don't know what to do. And all my ideas end up being kind of.. I don't know. Silly? Because I don't know what else to do. And then I don't even want to tell anybody. Like now. Because I am so sick of feeling like I have to rely on everybody while they do whatever, because I feel like something bad is going to happen and I am just going to be like.. the kid that can't stand on my own."

Twitch has posed:
"Let's get started on getting you ready, then," Tyler says to Erika. "Let's figure out what you need for my little checklist. You need to be able to take down someone twice your size in hand to hand combat. You need to be able to drop someone at a distance. You need to be able to escape if a situation goes sideways. You need to be able to avoid getting injured." He looks up for a second, "I think that's it." Settling his eyes back on hers he says, "We can figure out how we can help you do these things."

Rage has posed:
Andrea gives Tyler a poke in the side. "She needs to focus on controlling her powers first before learning karate. You need to take these in steps. Basic steps." Pushing herself up, she gives a stretch. "I'm going to hit my evening jog and then shower before bed. Take care guys." She says as she starts off with a yawn, pushing off one foot as she moves off in her brisk run.

Elixir has posed:
Josh waves to Andrea as she goes and sits up. "You know, the person you /really/ need to talk about this with is Ms. Frost. The New Mutants are her team. It's like, all academic if she doesn't invite you. So work with Ty, get yourself sorted, and see what happens," he suggests.

He rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands. "And to answer your question, Ty, I don't know what we're going to do. Andrea's right though, whatever happens it's going to need the X-Men. We really are in over our heads. What do you know about Pierce?"

Banshee has posed:
A distant, eerie, forlorn wail echoes and bounces off the water. It's not a wolf, it's something semi-human. Subtle and haunting, the note hangs and disappears into the darkened night. The surface of the water of the lake flutters with some of the sound and the vibration of it, but it passes quickly.

Mr. Cassidy pauses, then continues walking near the edge of the lake, consumed by the dark for now, though he spotted the group's presence, and is making his way to check it out.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir takes a deep breath and just kind of blows up again. "Okay, so look. I ALWAYS. ALWAYS. Have some clutter sitting in my brain since that night. And I cant sleep, I just stare at the THINGS. They won't let me sleep. The ONLY time I can sleep is when Miss Betsy walks in and kerzaps my head, and then it's just me, but I feel really numb and hazy too. I don't know what's ME and what's HER with that."

She looks around and gestures wildly, getting more and more loud and upset, "Right now I am standing on the grass, the only thing in my head is a damn swimsuit. Grass never gets in my head, but there isn't an inch in that house that doesn't remember a footprint, and there isn't a bed there that doesn't remember laying down or waking up or other stuff. All my clothes remember needles and thread and fingers on racks. Great! So all I have to do is, what? Sleep stark naked in the lawn? Gee, I think somebody might notice that? I don't even know what that would FEEL like. So I'm down by the lake in the dark being really frustrated because it's cold and there's people everywhere and god dammit, the only other person with boobs just ran off. Whatever, I give up. I don't even know what to do now. All my ideas blow up in my face anyways."

She crosses her arms and looks away with some mixture of unpleasant emotions. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.. "Yeah, I really want to get started on that stuff. I'm sorry about blowing up like that. Just.. It's really bugging me and if I keep holding it in it just chews on me and then I end up crying in my room and stuff. All the saddest songs are sad because they didn't say anything."

Twitch has posed:
"He's some rich dude with robot parts and a hate on for mutants," Tyler says to Josh with a shrug before waving to Andrea. "I don't really know much about him beyond that."

The weird noise catches Tyler's attention and the kid sits up a little straighter, looking around to see if he can't pick up where it's coming from. He doesn't notice the man concealed in the darkness.

As Erika blows up Tyler just watches her until she finishes speaking, frowning in concern as she gets everything off of her chest. "It's okay, Erika. You've got a lot of stuff going on, more than I ever had to deal with. You're allowed to get pissed off."

Elixir has posed:
Josh gives Erika a sympathetic look but doesn't say anything to her.

"He's the CEO of Pierce Consolidated Mining. He's not some rich guy, he's the kind of rich guy that will not, cannot, ever be put in jail. And he can talk," Josh says with a bitter smile. "You should hear him. Everything he says makes sense, sucks you in, until even the craziest thing he's saying seems perfectly reasonable, like it was your own idea. And he uses that; he's been speaking at Friends of Humanity meetings for years, recruiting, testing, training the most extreme people he finds. He's like a magnet for them. And somehow, he's got his hands on the technology to turn them into cyborgs. Think about that. This guy can convince people to hate mutants so totally, they give up their /own/ humanity to become... machines."

He chucks a stick into the fire. "Pierce is not the kind of problem that's like, going to go away because we punched a few cyborgs. He's not the kind of problem we're going to solve ourselves, either. He's the kind of problem we /need/ the X-Men for. Because straight up, I've got no idea how you tackle a problem like Pierce."

Banshee has posed:
Mr. Cassidy comes into more full view on the path, and doesn't mask his presence at all. Startling a group of teens that may or may not have explosive powers has never been a great idea, and he isn't going to start doing foolish things now. His footsteps are deliberately loud on the path to call attention to himself. He's dressed casually and obviously one of the faculty even in the dark, baseball hat pressed down over his short hair. He slows, then moves towards them, but there's no annoyance projected: he's not here to yell at them.

"E'erythin' okay o'er here?" Sean's Irish lilt calls. He'll check on them, but not necessarily intrude. Even if he heard a selection of what they're talking about.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir looks over at Sean, and waves a bit, brushing her bangs down over her eyes. "..Hey." She droops a little. She already puked up nine tenths of her heart on everyone, and she's a bit short on what to add to that. "I'm just frustrated today.."

Twitch has posed:
"That's nuts. I can't believe people buy into his BS like that..." Tyler says to Josh, frowning deeply at his friend. "I can only think of one way to handle someone the police can't, or won't, touch and I'm not sure if I'm willing to go that far to stop someone, even a genocidal madman. Plus, it might just get more people on his side."

As Sean makes himself visible Tyler gives the older man a wave in greeting. "Everything's cool, sir. We're just working through some stuff together. You doing okay?"

Elixir has posed:
"Yeah, well I bought into it, didn't I," he says and pushes himself to his feet.

When Tyler points out the dilemma Pierce presents he nods. "Exactly. What are you prepared to do, how far do you go? And what does it cost? What does it cost if you don't go far enough?" he asks rhetorically with one last look at the fire.

"I'm going to bed," he announces and starts back to the Mansion. He claps his friend's shoulder in passing, gives Erika another sympathetic smile and nods to Sean.

Banshee has posed:
"Sounds a li'dle like a murder plot," Sean observes with his eyebrows raised at Tyler. Sean approaches, a mild smile on his face, but there's an obvious Authority Figure thing with his posture. Rumors suggest he's police or military of some kind, and it is apparent where that came from. He hooks his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans, stopping near their fire. "Ah'm well, is et... Tyson? Tyler." Sean studied some dossiers. He looks to Erika. "Gettin' late, though. Bring this in?" Sean suggests, though without force.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir sighs and droops. "Damn it, I can't even pull off my incredibly embarrassing and stupid plans that probably wouldn't work. I guess." She heaves a sigh and shivers a little, keeping her arms crossed.

"Where to? I mean, I don't know when Betsy is going to get around to zapping me tonight." This is obviously chafing at her a lot more than it might.

Twitch has posed:
"You didn't buy very hard into it, luckily. Things would have been a lot worse if you had," Tyler says to Josh. "Goodnight, man. I'll catch you later."

"Yes, it's Tyler, sir," the youth confirms for Cassidy. He doesn't seem particularly surprised that this staff member that's new to him recognizes who he is, though. Looking between the other two that remain Tyler says, "I should probably be trying to get some sleep, too. If you want we can hang out during breakfast and lunch tomorrow, Erika." Then his focus is on Cassidy, "We were talking hypothetically. What do you do with a bad guy that the police can't or won't hold that's inciting people to commit genocide and also stabbing people with his sword arms?" He rolls smoothly to his feet and brushes his shorts off before looking for something to smother the fire with.

Banshee has posed:
"Generally I would confer with the Professor, or at the very least, the other X-Men," Mr. Cassidy answers in a relaxed tone. He's clearly all ears. He moves to assist with smothering the fire, giving a hand easily.

While doing so, he gives Erika a throughtful but confused look. "I'm unfamiliar with your issue, lass. What is it Ms. Braddock does for you?" he asks.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir ohs, "I can not sleep unless she zaps me and cuts all my links. Unless, I don'ty know, maybe if I was like, sleeping naked on the lawn, but that has totally different problems, right?"

Twitch has posed:
Once the fire's been dealt with, dirt kicked onto the flames and whatnot, Tyler looks at the pair of other mutants again and lifts a hand to wave at them, "Alright, I think I've going to head in now. If you need me just knock on my door," Tyler tells Erika, offering her a tight little smile.

To Cassidy he nods, "That's one of the reasons it's good to be on a team. Help you figure things out."

Banshee has posed:
Sean assesses this quickly. "Pe'haps a greenhouse-type 'o private room for ya could be creat'd, until ya problem is met w' somethin' bettah?" Sean suggests. "Dinnae have to be ou'side." He gives her a somewhat saddened look. "Th' best ah can offer t' try is a light hypnot'c to help y' to sleep."

Sean also moves to offer her a hand up to stand. He'll make sure Erika is okay, his look says, to Tyler.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir shakes her head. "I can't fall asleep if I have a link. I tried sleeping pills, benadryl, melatonin, and everything. Nothing works. I link with any inanimate object I touch. Blankets, sheets, pillowcases, that kind of thing."

Banshee has posed:
"That's not what ah meant. I can induce a hypnot'c state. Can't be sure it'd help yer, though," Sean says, trying to mull over her strange problem. "But thas' why I suggested a bed o' moss made a' the greenhouse... livin' thing, sounds like, eh?"

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir says, "I was awake for three? Four? nights straight by the time Andrea and Josh found me. I was ready to do all kinds of bad things to make it stop. I... literally.. can.. not.. fall asleep. The THINGS get in the way."

Banshee has posed:
Sean senses he's unable to help her, or she does not hear him. When she's ready, he'll help her go inside.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir says, "But yeah, a bed made out of moss or grass might work? I mean, we can try? It SHOULD work?"