7573/Sentinels and Cold Chicken

Sentinels and Cold Chicken
Date of Scene:	21 May 2019
Location:	Dining Room - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Lorna, Emma and Quentin talk about how to save the world from Sentinels. Blink has cold fried chicken.
Cast of Characters:	Emma Frost, Polaris, Blink, Kid Omega
Tinyplot:	Sentinels

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Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma finds herself with another mug of imported coffee in her hand and a pen in her hand that spins about her thumb occasionally as she looks down at the tablet between her hands. She doesn't speak any words as she's all on her own, but her face says plenty. This whole world's going to hell and she's about to start cleaning it up the only way she knows how.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna entered with her own tablet, Genoshan made, and thin as glass, floating about her as she walked. She paused, peering at Emma before she slid into the chair nearest to the blonde. A mug of warm mint and honey tea in hand. She sipped it once, watching the telepath staring at her own screen before she set her own down. "I wanted to tell you more of what I meant the other night. About my idea. It's not smashing heads in, or as cathartic as shooting Trask in the head.. But it might help. I hope. It's not like there's many options on the table that don't end with bodies on the ground." She offered softly.

Her own tablet settled down onto the table before her.

"My father has never been a subtle man. He's more pomp and drama, and the Professor is more about changing hearts and minds. Being reactive rather than active.." She paused, again, and sipped at her tea.

"I've always been more of a middle ground girl between their policies. And right now, it's looking more like mutant genocide is gearing up."

Blink has posed:
Blink is sitting at a table in the Dining Hall. She has managed to procure some of Samuel's fried chicken that he made the other night. As leftovers go, cold fried chicken is pretty high on the list. Clarice takes a bite from a drumstick and sits back in her chair, sighing in contentment. She has some mashed potatoes and gravy to go with the chicken, and also what looks a pair of freshly baked biscuits with butter on them.

The purple-haired young woman glances up as she sees Emma entering. Her attire gets a curious glance, as Emma is one person that Blink has not encountered at the school yet.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma sits briefly before the entrance of Lorna and the blonde looks up to Polaris with a curt nod. "I understood what you meant, I'm just pondering how quickly I can make my company simply absorb his, if that's even possible. But if it's not, the fastest way to stop these robots will be to find a way to force production of them to stop." Emma says with a frown of her ruby painted lips. "Supply and Demand dear Lorna."

    Emma gives no second glance to Clarice but the girl's mind is obviously stuck on what Emma is wearing so the blonde ignores the loud mind, for now.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna glanced down the table at Blink and patted the seat beside her in an invitation to the other woman. "If Trask's business stock is even publicly traded, then you'd be able to purchase a part of the company sure.. But that would tank those finances if we actually manage to shut the whole thing down like we intend to." She offered, and turned her focus back to Emma again,

"I've been working with Lex Luthor to develop an alternative security blanket for humanity. One that doesn't involve AI's out to commit genocide. We can't change what humans fear, not quick enough. Not completely. And lives are at stake. I was thinking, if possible, I want to get into one of the main banks that hold Trask's financial records. See who's buying, and paying, and what not. Hopefully, see how much and where.. the private prison industry is working with Trask too. You know he has to have his fingers there with how many mutants get locked up." She exhaled a breath.

Blink has posed:
Blink rises from her chair, moving over to join the other two women, bringing her tray of food with her. The talk of just buying up companies makes it obvious to Clarice how out of her realm of experience the conversation is. She takes a seat, frowning a little bit at the topic rather than at the ideas being discussed.

"Knowing who is buying them seems like it would be helpful. Also, finding out who is responsible for them, and holding them accountable when bad things happen. Try to get the reins out of Trask's hands?" Clarice suggests softly.

Emma Frost has posed:
    "Maybe buying him outright isn't the answer no." Emma says, spinning the pen around her finger once more before she looks to Lorna, "But maybe, I can buy out a key component of the production pieces of those damn robots." Emma says, thinking if she can take a single piece of the operation out of Trask's control it would slow them down, for a while at least.

    "Working with Lex is a grand idea trading the devil we don't know for the devil we do." Emma frowns and shakes her head. "You think we can cripple him by crippling where he puts his money?" The white queen inquires, furrowing her eyebrows and looking at Clarice as she sits next to the princess. "It doesn't matter who holds the reins, as long as those reins are trying to tighten around my neck and squeeze the life out of us, we can't sit happy with reins at all."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna leaned back and raised her hands as Blink settled in the chair beside her. "I'm trying to buy us time, which is something we lack right now. It doesn't take an expert in history to see where the road we're headed will lead. I have my country to worry about at the minimum. And right now, there might be terminator AI robot from the future ready to kill us all. I'm on the side that for right now, doesn't involve genocide. I'll worry about the rest later." She reached for her tea cup and sipped at it again. Her fingernails clicking against the sides.

"But yes, driving up the prices of key parts was an idea I had before. We likely have a list of some components available if you wanted it. We also have a few anti-detectors, or whatever you want to call it. My point is, we need to do something new. Finances and businesses? That's what I figure we haven't tried yet. My father used force to get Genosha, Ms. Frost. And the Professor tries to use politics to his advantage. We can't be reactive anymore."

Blink has posed:
Blink doesn't try to interject anything for a bit, letting the other two women speak. It would be known by those at the school that Clarice is there as security for Lorna. There was also talk of her having been rather helpful to those at the school, opening portals so they could get around easily. Even a couple of beach trips to Genosha.

At a point when the conversation hits a lull, Clarice asks, "You're Miss Frost?" having caught the name from Lorna. "I'm Clarice," she offers with a friendly enough smile. "I am surprised that such things are even legal. I thought the laws here were much more complicated," she comments.

Clarice picks up her cold fried chicken again, nibbling on the drumstick she'd previously taken the bite out of. Sam does such a good job with it!

Kid Omega has posed:
Quentin Quire makes his way down from upstairs and into the hall. He's carrying a few electronic devices himself, if you count telekinetically floating as carrying, and he absolutely does. He has a jumbo-sized soda with a straw in it, sucking on it contentedly and letting the caffeine soak into his bloodstream. His purple-pink hair is pulled up into a topknot, showing the shaved sides of his scalp, and a pair of bejeweled emerald spectacles with oversized lenses sit atop his nose.

He pays attention without paying attention, his hyperactive intellect allowing him to multitask with the best of them. He pauses a bit as he gets near Ms. Frost and looks up fully, giving her his actual attention. With his eyes and everything. "Ma'am," he says, as close to respectfully as he's ever given...well, anyone...as he goes to take a seat.

Emma Frost has posed:
    "Legal and popular opinion tend to be roughly the same thing in this day and age." Emma says with a frown as she responds to Clarice and nods. "Things are going to be getting much worse for us in the near future if we don't step up and do what it takes to protect ourselves." Emma says, sounding oddly like Magneto in that moment, but she's always been a bit harsher on that front.

    "The down side about hitting Trask's money is that it is exactly that, it's HIS money, we have to make the business side of his business no longer profitable if we wish to really stop these robots but it seems like there's some sort of government funding, that's going to be tricky."

    "Quentin." Emma responds in kind, but then she goes right back to her tablet and addressing Lorna, "Any and all ideas are needed. This is likely one of the few times we'll get to actuall brainstorm before shit starts to clog the proverbial fans."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna smiled at Clarice, and nodded to her. "Special interests run the US government here, there might be technical laws in place to prevent it. But if Trask wants to throw money at Congress, and get his lobbying group through? He can crank out law after law against Mutants and there won't be much stopping him. With enough traction, he can fund any number of groups and go from there without even needing to send out the Sentinels." She muttered and sighed, tapping her fingers against the cup of her mug. She glanced side long as Quentin entered and she hmm'ed under her breath.

"I agree with you, about hitting his supplies and funding for the robots. I told my father as much, and hence my reaching out to Lex Luthor about making his cheap Ironman suit knock offs. Something to make direct competition with the Sentinels without the direct threat aimed at us. Combine it with driving up the prices of key components, and I think.. hitting the financial records for the company.. and it might give us an edge. I hope. Anything right now, is better than nothing." The royal pushed her green hair back from her face, grimacing.

"I want to get a good few thumb drives loaded up with viruses loaded into their systems for good measure to slow production but... that's unlikely to much I think."

Blink has posed:
Blink takes another bite of the drumstick, nibbling on the meat that is left before setting it aside. One of those hot biscuit halves is picked up, the butter all melty and delicious on it. She takes a bite of then, glancing up as someone new comes into the room.

This time it is Emma that provides the unfamiliar person's name. Clarice looks to be about twenty, and her purple hair and completely green irises that are unlike normal human green eyes are enough to visibly mark her as a mutant. She waves a hand to give a little finger wiggle of greeting toward Quentin. "Hello, I'm Clarice," she tells him. She watches how he makes the items float about him and smiles appreciatively at his use of his powers.

"So who has control of the Sentinels? I mean, who makes the decision to send them out? Who sends them the orders? Who has the actual power over what they do? Do we even know?" Clarice asks. "If they are part of the government, don't they have to disclose that?"

Kid Omega has posed:
Quentin Quire pipes up, "It's always a worthwhile reminder anytime in our current state of late decay capitalism, but, like, money isn't real. If he seems to have a lot of money, we just...have to get into the computer that keeps track of it and make it forget. Wherever it comes from. Government, private entrepeneur, Marvin the Martian - money isn't a real thing, it's only a perception and I would think that some of us here are quite good at tricking people's perceptions. And Lorna can lift metal stuff."

He gestures at Clarice, "Hi, Clarice! The answer is the same in every society: the powerful have to do whatever they feel like doing, because nothing holds them accountable except themselves. Laws are just words. If you get away with it, it's legal. If you don't, it's not. Murder is illegal, but people do it all the time. I'm not encouraging murder, per se, although I can think of a few politicians, several religious leaders and at least one member of One Direction whom I wouldn't mind seeing eliminated with extreme prejudice, but I'm just saying - we're dealing with issues of survival at this point. Do what we gotta do. I love Professor X, I do, he's the original Mr. Clean, he's the ML to my K, the Malcom to my X - wait, strike that, reverse it - but this stuff is getting sooooooooo far out of hand that it's like...nuts."

He extends the plastic bag in his hand, "Anybody want a Cheeto?"

Emma Frost has posed:
    "We're not killing anyone. Yet." Emma says with a look from Quentin towards Lorna and a quick squint. "We could corrupt the banks holding his money pretty easily, if we could get Kitty in there to fudge some numbers, but finding where is the main trouble. Lorna, and Clarice, that will be up to you. I'm going to go meet Trask myself." Emma says, standing up from the table abruptly and pushing the chair away from beneath her with her legs and scooping up her tablet and coffee. "Keep me up to date. I'm going on a road trip." Emma says as she steps away from the table.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna nodded to Clarice, "All good points. Is it Trask himself or a database that's running these things? How do they operate? We need to know and we need to know before they show up at our front steps." She muttered, and glanced toward Quentin with a raised eyebrow. She felt like she wanted to make some kind of a comment on the monarchy of Genosha and how Clarice was used to that rather than the US system.. but she decided it truly wasn't worth it. Instead the green haired mutant nodded.

"Things are getting out of hand and I worry that it won't stop until we're all dead or in hiding. I have a country that hosts the largest concentration of mutants in the world. You know there are more than a few governments out there that want to send Sentinels there asap." She drawled and then Emma was standing up and talking of going to Trask himself. She blinked, gaping at the blonde.

"Uh... you sure that's the best plan of attack there? Just gonna... waltz in and read his mind?" Shr arched a brow and looked at the other two in the room and back. "Miss Frost, please, take one of the anti-mutant detectors with you at least. So they don't immediately read you as a mutant and go on the defensive before you even get there..?"

Blink has posed:
"Not to mention, maybe some allies who it would be even more difficult to disappear you with? Mr. Stark was in the paper as having talk to Trask, wasn't he? From what I've heard has been going on, you guys are working with him pretty closely on this. Maybe the both of you?" she suggests.

Clarice finishes off the biscuit. She smiles to Quentin but shakes her head at the offer of the cheetoh. "There's some fried chicken left in the fridge if you haven't eaten yet," she offers to the young man. Next she starts in some of her mashed potatoes and gravy.

Clarice looks over to Lorna. "Do you have any trips planned in the immediate future you need me for?" Clarice asks. That would be whether transportation, or security.

Kid Omega has posed:
Quentin Quire considers, "I do like a good fried chicken. Depending on the herbs and spices involved."

He doesn't bother to caution Emma Frost because she's Emma Frost and the idea that she hasn't thought five layers ahead of most people (almost as far ahead as Q himself) didn't even occur to him.

"What is up with Stark being around here anyway? Did we need the warmonger technocrat wandering around here getting a look at all our security crap? Shouldn't he have been blindfolded or something?"

Polaris has posed:
Lorna threw up her hands as Emma stormed out in her high heeled shoes and suit, she sighed heavily, and tapped the side of her mug as she glanced between Quentin and Clarice. "She's not listening to either of us now.." She grimaced and shook her head, reaching to finish off her tea. "I have no idea why Stark is here. I didn't even notice. I was busy trying to get something set up with the Avengers, and lo, here is one while I went to them. Silly me." She muttered and rolled her eyes upward.

"I dunno Clarice. I don't plan on anyone trying to kill me today, but it's still early, so we might get an assassination attempt before bedtime." She teased.

Blink has posed:
Clarice looks surprised. "Stark was here?" she says. She's been a bit busy though, spending time... doing other things. Lorna probably has an idea what has Clarice occupied anyway. "Hmm. Well, I guess that's good though if he's an ally or... I admit I don't really know a lot of details about how all of this works with outside people. Just I know not to say anything about it unless I heard it's ok to," Clarice says, shrugging.

She finishes off another biscuit then looks to Lorna thoughtfully. "I'd heard things were actually going a little smoother in Mutant Town. I mean, not as many people giving them a hard time and all. The Sentinels are kind of scary, but people there seemed a little more relaxed overall," she comments.