6845/Apologies to the pest

Apologies to the pest
Date of Scene:	10 March 2019
Location:	Wellness Center - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	James Proudstar apologized for kidnapping Erika.
Cast of Characters:	Souvenir, Warpath

---

Souvenir has posed:
The nurse's office is a quiet place on the weekend, usually. Or most any time really.

Erika Kristasdottir is one of the ones who ends up here a bit more often than most. Today? It's because she was trying to spar with some of the other students and took a too-hard kick. Apologies were given, but she still had to limp over to here.

She gingerly sits in a chair, looking a bit green, in sweats and carrying her bag with her.

Warpath has posed:
The nurse comes in. Helps Erika a bit with her injury, getting her some ice for it, and something to help keep it from swelling up. She comes back after a bit and says, "Erika? There's someone who wondered if it is ok for him to come and talk to you. The Native American man, James Proudstar? He said if you didn't want to see him he'd go away. I'll be right over here though if you'd like to me to tell him he can come in?" the nurse asks Erika.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir takes a deep breath and lets it out. "...Okay."

She winces a bit and ices her thigh, grinding her teeth a little. Why NOW? Whatever. She straightens up and makes herself slightly more presentable.

Warpath has posed:
The nurse goes out in the hall, and then comes back in with James Proudstar. He's wearing street clothes. Jeans and a shirt and a warm bit of flannel overtop. His hair is hanging loose about his shoulders. No headbands this time. The very large man comes into the room, but goes over to the far side of it to lean against the wall, leaving plenty of space between himself and Erika.

"Thank you for seeing me. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for what I did. And, I hope it isn't something that's causing you any lingering pain or troubles," James tells her quietly, the man's dark eyes looking at her, expression soft but showing regret.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir shivers a little, then looks up at you. She holds her thumb at finger apart. "Little bit. Less tomorrow. I heard you wanted to apologize, but your last message just barely missed me."

She tilts her head at you. "That was really messed up, you know that, right? What did you think happened, exactly? Seriously, what was the plan, here? Because like, I think I can deal with this better if you at least had a good plan from shit intel."

Warpath has posed:
James Proudstar looks around and finds a chair. Probably best he sit. At over seven feet tall, it is difficult for him to not loom even when he doesn't want to. He takes a seat in it. "You know of John already. My older brother. An X-man. And you know about the mission he died on," James says. "They brought his body back. I didn't know how he died. Only that it was because he followed them. Followed Xavier. I don't think humans are ever going to accept us. And it always made me angry that John died for... for what I think ends up being a pipe dream. A beautiful one, but a pipe dream," James says. He sounds a little uncomfortable, though it could just be talking this much, not even the subject. "I dealt with that for years though. It wasn't until more recently that... something else happened, which I realize now, had a lot to do with... why I went down this road," James tells her. More of it still to be told, it seems.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir sighs and steeples her fingers a bit. "Okay, so like, I know you feel bad, right? But like, right now?" She starts counting off points on her fingers. "What was your intel, where did you get it, what was your campaign objective, what was your mission objective, and how did you think your specific mission was going to achieve that goal?"

She folds up the five fingers. "Just explain those to me, and then you can explain where this went off the rails, okay? Because I want to know if you were misguided -- or completely bat-shit cray-cray pans in the bookcase nuts when you decided to kidnap me and tie me up somewhere? It kind of matters to me."

Warpath has posed:
James listens quietly. "I just wanted you to know the why, before I got to the how," he tells her. "I don't want you to think... this was just... normal for me," he says, his head drooping. "My tribe, was massacred. I returned to find them all dead. Every last one of us but myself. And I've failed to find those responsible. I had lived for years feeling I'd left John unavenged. By choice. And now I failed to avenge my tribe's death. I ran out of leads." James lets out a sigh. "After I surrendered, talking with Rahne, I realized... my frustration over failing my tribe... I channeled all of that need to avenge them into avenging John. Like I could make up for my failure if I could at least avenge him. That was my goal. Kidnap you to draw out Xavier, who I thought was responsible for his death. I knew I had no chance here, at the school. I knew of the X-men from John. I was part of the Hellions. The New Mutants used to be part of us. I knew much of the school already. I did not expect there to be students who came for you. I thought, just Xavier and his X-men."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir inhales, then exhales. "Okay. That part makes sense so far." She frowns, thinking a bit.

"So.. why me? Was I just the first student to walk by or something? Seriously. And like, what intel did you even have on me, exactly? Anything?

Warpath has posed:
"A few overheard words here and there," James says. "My senses are extremely acute. I can read a newspaper by feeling the thickness of the newsprint. "A few words about abilities of other students, said near enough I picked them up. Enough to believe you weren't... well, going to turn out to be Cannonball. After that it was just more observation and planning. Preparing a place for the right moment," James tells Erika.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir nods, thinking about that for a minute. "Fair enough. If you said you knew about me being a good psychometrist, and that never dropped me onto the list of 'possible leads', I swear to God I would throw this ice pack at you."

"Did you find the bodies? Were they wearing or carrying things when they died? I mean, you probably don't have anything like that /on/ you, sure, but still. I can totally take a swing at it sometime."

Warpath has posed:
"It has been some time since they died," James Proudstar says quietly from where he sits in the chair on the other side of the room from Erika. "Our funeral rites including pyres for the dead. I do not have anything from left from the tribe."

He pauses and looks up. There is a long delay before James finally says, "There was a mask left. The kind worn by agents of the Hellfire Club. I focused on them for the longest time. But... I believe it was probably left to turn me against them, though. I don't think they were behind it."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir frowns. "That's, well... That sucks. Seriously, necklace, button, shoe, whatever. If you really did a clean sweep, I don't know what to tell you besides, you know, kind of like that one Alanis Morisette song by somebody who can't read a dictionary, you know?"

She shakes her head. "Look, I have something for you." She reaches in her bag, into the side zipper pouch, and pulls out a plastic bag with a certain headband in it. "I'm pretty sure he would have wanted you to have this." She puts it in her hand and offers it over with some measure of respect.

Warpath has posed:
"I can go back to Camp Verde and... there is probably something there, somewhere," James Proudstar says. "At the time, it wasn't something I knew anyone could do," he tells her. He lets out a sigh. "After what I did, you offer to help me," he says, nodding his head, as if the reminders of how wrong he was keep adding up.

James looks up as she offers John's headband. He accepts it when she offers it, holding it in both hands. "It was the only thing I kept from him when they brought his body back," James says quietly. "Thank you for it," he says, a thumb rubbing over it gently. "Sam and Andrea have spoken of me training with them," he mentions, looking up as if wondering if she is ok with that notion.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir nods. Is silent a couple of seconds. "I'm still kind of pissed at you. But I don't hate you. You're dealing with some serious suck, here, and it's some suck that I can do something about. Beats the hell out of kidnapping little girls."

"I'm totally going to want to know how you set up some of those traps, though. And, you know, how to notice them before people jump out of them and gas me."

Warpath has posed:
The large Native American's eyes watch Erika as she nods. "You have every right to be," he tells her. "I hope in time I can earn your friendship and trust. But I know I have a tall hill to climb," James says, speaking softly in his his deep bass voice. "I can show you how to make them. If done well, people are not likely to notice. Not without a sense of smell or hearing like myself, or Rahne or the others. That's the value of surprise, of a well-thought out ambush," he comments quietly. "I can work with you on how to plan ahead for your opponent, though."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir nods, "Totally. You don't know how much time I've been spending looking over the map of that place."

She looks off to the side, studying some imaginary table. "There's a couple of spots that I'm still puzzling out, like that one landmine in the treeline, but I wasn't walking around there either."

Warpath has posed:
"Everything was designed for dealing with a team. For trying to lure out Xavier, who I expected would not emerge from the plane until needed," James tells her. "The missiles had no chance of hitting, but would encourage them to land quickly outside the base. The traps along the sides for an attempt to sneak someone around the sides and in for a rescue while I was distracted in front. There were precautions for various X-men, but then most of them that were most worrisome did not come. Polaris, Rogue, Jean Grey, the ones who could stop me the most easily. Or in the case of Polaris, undo so many of my defenses."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir nods. "That's what I figured. How were you planning on dealing with Miss Grey? I mean, I caught the iron filings and stuff." She winces and adjusts the ice pack a bit.

"And like, with that stuff in the door, were you seriously okay with blowing me up if that went off? I mean, it was right there."

Warpath has posed:
"You were the safest person in the facility," James says quietly. "The hallway would have been shrapnel, it would not have made it through the walls of the bunker to you. And the only time I armed the traps was during the fight. I really did not wish to harm you. If you'd escaped while I went for newspaper, short of falling in a pit, there were no armed traps. I'd have just tracked you down," he explains.

"The filings probably would have only helped against Lorna. Rogue, I had gas for. Miss Grey... I believe my own training would have been enough, but I had some electronic darts to shock her and cause some lingering issues in her synapses that might make her psychic powers more difficult. Or that was my hope," he says.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir ahs. "Mmkay. Anyway. This seriously hurts, and, um.." She checks her phone. "I'm gonna be late to a training slot. Gonna have to run."