9567/Did You Try Taking It Apart And Putting It Back Together Again

Did You Try Taking It Apart And Putting It Back Together Again
Date of Scene:	13 October 2019
Location:	Garage - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Two former weapons take the experience apart and work on putting it back together again.
Cast of Characters:	Samuel Morgan, Marvel Girl, Nightingale

---

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Sunday evening, and while a lot of the students have either gone out in pairs or with escorts, or sat down for movies in the rec room, one has chosen to continue what he started after his morning workout. The music that had filled the garage is nowhere near as loud now as it had been in the past, allowing other sounds to drift along. Torque wrenches, power buffers, metal on metal... the sounds of a vehicle under maintenance.

    Bean's bike had been coming along at a startling pace despite incidents in the recent past. But finally the frame had been refinished, welded where cracked with the aid of the arc-welder he and Alek had rebuilt for the purpose, cleaned of all rust, sanded, nickle coated and finally, finally returned to the bay where the young mutant is busy reassembling all the neatly laid out parts.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel is...an unusual presence at the school. Not quite a student, not quite a full X-Man, definitely not a teacher. But here all the same, and working her way through things. The recent news of the Sentinels, instead of reassuring her, seems to have made her restless. She's already spent time training and working out, tried to watch a movie. But she can't rest, so a bit of wandering has taken her to the garage.

Hands in the pockets of a pair of distressed black jeans, wearing an oversized hoodie, she wanders into the garage, Samuel's activity catching her eye. Lazy steps take her that way, though she scuffs her sneakers a bit on the garage floor, quietly announcing her presence before she gets to the bay.

"Hey," she greets, giving the bike a look. "It's...Samuel, right?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    It's the small things that Bean appreciates. Being approached silently is one of those things that sets off all his internal alarms, and it's always a chore to get himself back under control afterwards. Someone making a bit of noise, making an attempt to announce themselves before he has a chance to go into full on fight mode is always one of those things he can appreciate. It also gives him time to finish what he's doing and stand up, wiping his hands on a bit of oily cloth. Rather than his usual outfit, Sam-Bean is currently rocking the mechanic coverall aesthetic, with the front left pocket left zipped half open.

    The bike in the bay, a Honda Shadow classic, can actually be recognised as a vehicle now, even if the engine hasn't been assembled back on yet, and the transmission is still in pieces. Bean nods to Rachel, after a quick glance that was more of a threat assessment. "That's me. Samuel Morgan, but everyone calls me Bean, so they don't get me confused with Mister Guthrie."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Sounds fair," Rachel says with a wry smile, head tilting as she looks over the bike, then back to him. "You look better than the last time I saw you. Infirmary, after the whole...Sentinel, school trip thing. I'm Rachel," she adds, though she keeps her hands in her pockets. Not the weirdest thing around here when it comes to greetings though.

"This a school project, or a personal one?" she asks, taking a step toward the bike as she walks around it. Her social skills may be somewhat lacking, but at least she's trying.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "In fairness, I don't remember much from some of that incident." Bean admits. He certainly doesn't remember being visited by Rachel, but then he spent a lot of that time unconscious. It'd be hard to look any worse, that's for sure. "It's a bit of both. Miss Pryde thought it would be something to keep me occupied, and ... well, it's working. Easy to just switch some of my brain off while I'm working on the bike, keeps the black dog away." He's not known for his social skills either, although they certainly have improved over the last few weeks. "The plan is to actually ride it when finished. Not sure how I'm going to get a driver's license, but that's another problem."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Yeah, I get that," Rachel nods, crouching off to one side of the bike. "I do that sometimes too. Come down here to work on something. Takes my mind off of...you know. Everything else. Sometimes it's nice to focus on something that's actually got a solution."

At the mention of a drivers license, a faint smirk tugs at one corner of her lips. "Hey, you only need a drivers license if you get pulled over," she points out. "And you only have to show it if you actually do pull over."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Bean nods. He knows it very well. The thoughts that refuse to go away until they're silence, the memories, the... it all fades away when working on the bike. Mostly. "This thing was a tetanus generator when I first saw it. I knew it was going to take a lot of work, but as you say... it has a solution. It can be fixed, it's a project that will end."

    As for licenses and lack thereof... "Yeah, I know what you mean. But I'm on a very short leash. One mistake, and it's back to the pit."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"The pit?" Rachel echoes, quirking a brow. She's crouched next to Samuel's bike while he works on it, watching the progress. "Didn't realize we had a pit here." It sounds like she's not quite sure how she feels about that idea, but it's mostly 'not good.' "Looks like you've made some real progress on it though. Outside's looking nice. How's she look under the hood?" Easier to talk about mechanics than personal issues anyhow.

Nightingale has posed:
     It's a quiet evening, with a long-overdue trip to the stables planned. Hey, it's good strength training, plus a familiar winged healer might get to spoil Brightwind rotten. It was a good place for Shannon to unwind and just let her thoughts wander without any worry whatsoever. The past week had been very eventful, with its shares of ups and downs, and it would be good to decompress. Right? Right.

     Wrong.

     Music and the sound of gears, metal on metal, and voices nearby brought the tow-headed teen up short. Her grip on two apples--one for her, and one for Brightwind--tightens, and her wings flex a little bit behind her. She listens for a moment, and smiles, recognizing one voice. The other was... well, vaguely familiar. Where had she heard it before? Her brows furrow as she thinks for a moment.

     Ah, yes. The medbay. The time Kitty was in there, and not in a very good way. Why couldn't she think of the name to go with that voice?

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "No, not here, it's... someplace else. They called it the Scorpion Pit while I was in there. Designed to hold me and make it impossible to escape. It was a work in progress." Evidence the dozen times or so he broke out and nearly did escape. It's not something Bean talks about a lot. Instead he nods to the bike and talks shop. Literally. "Engine's good, lucked out with the hydraulic valves. Gave it all a scrub, refinished the metal with a nickel plating, just had to replace a few cylinder rings. Resealed the oil pan, strengthened the fuel tank, had to fix some stressor cracks in the frame, nothing major. Transmission's FUBAR though, needs a new flywheel and clutch pressure plate, that's the next big project."

    Bean's head turns towards the entrance, leaning to peek out of the box until he spots Shannon. "Oh, hi there."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Sounds like fun," is Rachel's laconic response regarding the Pit. She's not going to press on that. She's got enough of her own memories in that vein, and she knows sharing isn't at the top of her list of fun times.

Her head rises as someone else approaches, though the gesture turns into a greeting tip of her chin when she recognizes the young woman.

"You look better than the last time I saw you, too," she says with a wry twist of her lips, standing up from her crouch and brushing her hands off on her jeans. "Glad to see people are at least recovering."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon laughs a little, her pale azure eyes bearing something of a twinkle, and her smile somewhat wry. "Good gods, seriously, is that all people are going to remember, me ending up in the medbay? Hey, it was only the first time that week." She refrained from mentioning the third time. It was one she was still paying for, though perhaps the thoughts were a little closer to the surface than they needed to be. "I'm awfully sorry, but my brain's like swiss cheese when it comes to names sometimes. It's embarrassing to admit I forgot yours."

     She smiles warmly to Bean, wiggling a wing at him, and nodding towards the bike. "Wow... that's really coming along well. Keep that up and you'll be done with it soon enough." She brushes a wisp of pale gold away from her face, tucking it away behind her ear. "How's it going, you two?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Still thinking of a name for it." Bean admits, looking at the bike. He has a few candidates, sure, but... well, that's a thing for another time. "Not sure what I'm going to do when it's finished. Ride it, I suppose. Or learn to anyway."

    Just like Rachel, he seems pretty good at deflecting personal questions, or at least deflect topics that he doesn't want to talk about. "How are you holding up, Shannon? Off to spoil Brightwind?"

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Pretty sure riding it is the general idea with these things," Rachel agrees, smirking. "Sounds like you're well on your way though." To Shannon, she shrugs, wry. "To be fair, I'm pretty sure I only met you that one time in the infirmary. But it's good to see people better in general. Not a big fan of people here getting hurt."

Two people is enough to put her back on guard, stepping back to a tool box and leaning back against it, her arms crossed loosely over her chest.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon nods, and offers a lopsided grin to Rachel and Bean. "Neither am I. Just lands me in the medbay in the end. Really glad Triage is probably going to be sticking around, though. Don't have to go it alone so much anymore." She shifts the apples to her left hand, brushing her right palm against her jeans and offering her hand to Rachel. "My name's Shannon." To Bean, she smiles, chuckling lightly. "Naturally. Good place to get a lot of thinking done in there."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    He recognises that motion. Bean moves, slowly, to be on the other side of the bike from Rachel, and leave her a direct path out of the bay without any obstruction. A solid barrier and a way out... that's what he'd look for in a defensive position.

    He leans back against the work table, trying to look relaxed while being anything but. He's pretty sure he just met another shark. "I try to avoid getting hurt, but sometimes it's worth it to take one for the team. Back then, it was me take the hit so the other students could get out. It's a trade I'd make again."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Right choice," Rachel nods to Samuel, pushing off the tool box long enough to step forward and take Shannon's hand in a brief, firm grip before settling back into her position. There's a brief glance to Samuel, recognizing his motion with a slight nod. "Rachel," she supplies belatedly, smile flickering across her features. "Always good to have more people with healing powers around. We've all got a tendency to run into things we may or may not come out of clean."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon lets out a short laugh and nods, her smile a rueful one. She rubs the back of her neck briefly, stepping back to allow Rachel a clear path out if she wants. Something told her the other woman was not at all comfortable with her around. "Preaching to the choir there, Rachel. Though I'm really glad to have a relief watch, really. At least I can take a break and just... be."

She looks at Bean, remembering all too well the sacrifice he had made, inclining her head towards him. "You also basically told a Sentinel to 'SIT', if I remember right. And it listened. Me, all I did was herd kids, and get Lorna back on her feet."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Just before another controller tried to pull my brains out through my nose." Bean also recalls, actually glad that his instinct on the matter had been vindicated. And at least now he doesn't have to worry about that other controller knowing about his existence anymore. Since he's by the work table anyway, Bean opens a packet of cylinder rings and starts to fit them around the cylinder heads. It's not something that requires a lot of expertise, it's just one of those things to occupy his mind and hands. Plus, he can do it without turning his back on Rachel. "One less thing to worry about. Now all we need is to go deal with the people who brought a semi automatic grenade launcher to a school."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Hey, herding kids and getting the heavy hitters up and moving are both important parts of the team," Rachel points out. "There's a lot more to getting a job done than just...brute destructive force." As someone who's primarily brute destructive force, she'd know.

"Who's bringing grenade launchers to school?" she asks, quirking a brow at the others. "And where are they even getting them?" It's possible the second part is of more interest to her than the first.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon shrugs. "That's something we're still trying to figure out. Pretty nasty fight. Western wall of the gardens is a mess." She smirks a little, though she shifts her weight from foot to foot, rotating her feet just a little bit as if to make sure they still worked. "Nice little crater in the ground there, too." Is that a little bit of pride in her voice? An emotion she rarely if ever indulges in, but it's there. "We got the matter taken care of, but I did let miss Munroe know to talk to Cannonball when she gets the chance. If Mr. McCoy hasn't talked to the other teachers already. At least the bases are covered."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Would have been a bigger crater if I'd have managed to land that shot with the HE." Nope, Bean isn't salty about not getting to fire off the big ordnance. Not one bit... maybe a smidgen. "We've got an address. I'm letting the teachers handle it, pretty sure they'll ask me to tag along." And assembling the cylinder heads, he gets a sudden idea. "Do you think Doctor McCoy is going to need help disassembling those chemical grenades? They're not as dangerous as the anti-personnel one, but that's still a lot of charge you don't want going off in an enclosed space."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"I think the phrase you're looking for is 'learning experience,'" Rachel suggests dryly to Samuel, a glimmer of humor in her eyes. "Getting to do something here is all about framing it the right way." She may be a relative newcomer to this reality, but she grew up here in her own. She's full of tips and tricks for having a good time.

"Sure it was a grenade launcher and not just a power issue?" she asks Shannon. "I mean. Wouldn't be the first time someone here blew something up."

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon smirks a little, chuckling softly at Bean's evident disappointment in not getting to fire the grenade launcher. "No, it was not something blowing up. It was an out-and-out attack. Some strange metallic lizard-thing and a brick wall of a woman decided Laura would make a good target. It got messy. Landed Andrea in the medbay, and me too for about an hour. I did a flying drop-kick on the woman who had the grenade launcher. My ankles and leg didn't thank me for it." She flicks one of the apples from her left hand up in the air, deftly plucking it mid-arc with her right hand, and smiles. "I should probably go get these to Brightwind, though. Maybe I'll make some mac 'n cheese later, Bean?" She smiles to Rachel. "It was nice to meet you outside the medbay. Hopefully, my memory won't fail me next time.

With that, she ambles off towards the stables, humming a familiar 80's rock anthem. "Sweet dreams are made of this, Who am I to disagree..."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Line of fire wasn't clear." is all Bean is going to say on the subject. A few years ago he wouldn't have cared and fired regardless. But this is the better person he's trying to build, and friendly fire is a consideration now. With the cylinder heads assembled, he pulls the stack of C-rings and bolts over to the engine stand, sliding the first cylinder back in through the open engine head until it seats properly against the crankshaft. "Mac and cheese? I'll see you in the kitchen later."

    He waits until Shannon is gone before giving more details, fastening the cylinder with the C-ring and tightening it in place. "M32A1 launcher, I left it in the med bay. It was leave it or have it taken off me. They were after another student, Laura Kinney, hoping to trick her into either fighting the metallic thing they had with them, or us while the thing tried to kill all of us. Didn't work out for them, but it nearly did. Some payback is owing..."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Yeah, that adds up," Rachel grimaces. "Seems like there's always someone ready to turn a mutant into their weapon, and they're never happy about it when the mutants break off and stop working for them. Though I don't much like the idea of them being able to find her here," she adds, brows furrowing in a deeper frown.

She reaches up, ruffling a hand through her hair in a thoughtful motion. "Should talk to someone about getting in on more missions," she murmurs. "Think things are a little more...stable."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "That's been bothering me too. Another organisation found me in Salem last week, but I can believe that being a leak elsewhere. If they knew I was here, they'd have tried a different tactic. Laura... Let's say we need to deal with this before it becomes a bigger issue." As for mutants being made into weapon, Bean stops work for a moment, tightens the grip on his wrench and gets to work again. A bit more angrily. "We're either weapons or targets. I've chosen where I stand on that divide."

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel nods once, wordless agreement. "It's always been the balancing act for the school here," she muses. "This is supposed to be a safe place for the targets. Somewhere they don't have to //be// targets. But in order for that to work, for them to be safe, you've got to have some weapons, too. As long as you know which one you are, it's not too bad. But I've seen kids get into a lot of trouble not being sure about it themselves."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "It's better now, I think. At least we have teachers that have been in this situation before, and they know what to look out for. And who to look out for." Bean gives up on the cylinder rebuild for now and stands up again, hands on the engine as if it'll give him inspiration on how to best continue the conversation. "Some of the team leaders... they don't seem to understand, and think that we're supposed to be just ambassadors, and spend our time being kids, counting on the teachers to protect us." He looks over to Rachel and smiles. "We both know it doesn't work that way, don't we?"

Marvel Girl has posed:
"It should. At least for the kids who can get away with it," Rachel sighs, glancing the way Shannon left. "But yeah, no. That's not how it goes. I haven't been just a kid for a long time, and I'm definitely not ambassador material, unless you're looking for the ambassador to don't give a fuck-i-stan. Then we might have enough cultural similarities to vibe." A smile flickers across her features once more at that.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "I hear that loud and clear." The work table is cleared up, tools are being squared away. Bean ensures everything is /just so/, setting everything with military precision, and then goes back to leaning. "Look, I didn't say anything while Shannon was here, but I can tell, okay? If you ever need to blow off steam, if you're looking for a sparring partner that can take a knock, come see me or Laura."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"I am //pretty// sure Laura would actually stab me. For real," Rachel admits, lips twitching again. "I might have sort of, uh..." She squints, reaching up to rub a hand at the back of her neck. "I'm not from around here," she explains. "Came from a different timeline, reality, whatever you want to call it. But getting here was the result of some pretty extreme stress, and I think the trip screwed with my brain for a while after I got here. So I did some stupid things, including some stuff that Laura's rightfully not thrilled about."

She leaves it at that, still leaning against the toolbox. "But thanks. I might take you up on that. Kind of feel bad taking it out on most people, you know?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "If we're going to keep holding things against people that they did in the past, or because someone or something was messing with their mind, there'd be a lot of bad blood around." Case in point... Bean looks away, eyes distant for a little while, arms crossed across his chest. "I know what you mean. I spent two weeks trying to find a gym in the school, getting just slowly more and more worked up until someone invited me. My knuckles did not like that. And Laura is a good sparring partner, she hasn't stabbed me yet." Yet.

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Yeah, you also probably haven't pissed her off yet. I'll keep my insides on the inside for now," Rachel smiles ruefully. "Though maybe just getting my ass handed to me would make her feel better about it, so there's that."

"It's cool, really," she shakes her head. "I don't blame her. Definitely my bad." She catches the inside of her cheek between her teeth, chewing on it for a moment. "Kind of got a lot of that karma headed my way anyhow. But yeah. Training. I'm in." She looks back to him then, a more searching, intent look. "Told a Sentinel to sit, huh? Technomancer?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Karma... yeah, here's hoping it doesn't catch up with me." Bean seems to have reasons all his own not to believe in some kind of cosmic balancing act. Scales are probably a bit skewed, at least in his mind. He nods at the question. "Technopath, no magic involved. Wasn't supposed to be, but the lab messed up on the whole genetic purity thing. Not a popular thing to be among violent genetic purists, let me tell you. But yeah... made a 40 foot Sentinel sit his ass down. I also never have to look for the light switch."

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel quirks a brow as she gleans a little more information from his words. Sure, she could go in and get all the information she wants...if she wanted to. But that's not how you treat people who aren't enemies. Technically it's probably not how you treat enemies either, but she's working on that.

"Telepath, telekinetic, pyrokinetic," she says for herself. "Among other things. Not having to look for the light switch sounds nice though. Probably useful for watching TV in bed too if you forget the remote."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Oh, the whole trifecta." Bean smiles, a genuine smile this time, it reaches his eyes. "And I /am/ the remote. I'd like to say it's come in handy a lot, but in reality, it's been nothing but trouble except for the whole Sentinel incident. In reality, you take me out of a city, and I'm pretty much useless as far as mutant abilities go. Yours are useful everywhere. But a good craftsman never blames his tools, I suppose." After a few moments though, he holds up a hand as if to add something quickly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm comfortable with what I am. So, I'm guessing the future wasn't that great, if you came back in time?"

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Eh," Rachel lifts a hand, wiggling it from side to side. "Hit me with a nullifer, I'm...only kind of dangerous. Definitely less dangerous to a giant robot, though." Of course she measures usefulness in ability to shut down Sentinels.

The smile quirks again at his question, followed by a humorless laugh. "Yeah, no. Extremely not that great. Somebody killed an anti-mutant Senator, which basically set off a chain of events in which an anti-mutant president was elected, the government and Sentinels came after us, this place got destroyed, and mutants were all but eliminated. The few ones that were left were kept in containment facilities. Or else used to hunt down any that had escaped."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    A few cogs start turning in Bean's head, and he quirks an eyebrow at the narrative, deep on thought. After about twenty seconds or so, he looks back to Rachel. "Sounds familiar. As in, sounds like it comes out of the playbook of an organisation I used to work for. Operation Snowball, I think. Or Avalanche... depends on if the killer was ever positively identified as a mutant, or blatant mutant abilities were used. Operation Distant Thunder if it was claimed by a pro-mutant group." Ehm? What? He changes the subject just a bit. "Looks like we managed to avoid that, so whatever it is you did to stop it, thank you."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"I'm honestly not sure," Rachel admits, shaking her head. "Me and my world's Kitty were the last ones left. Going after some sort of advanced new model for Sentinels when we got trapped. We were both going to die, and the next thing I know..." She gestures around herself. "Here I am. I don't know. Maybe we did something right. Maybe the world just spit me out instead of letting me go and this is where I landed. But...things are better here," she admits, even as her eyes narrow at his list of names. "At least I thought they were. That's a lot of operations and organizations."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "That's just the one organisation." Bean says, looking away as he does. Yeah, he's not proud of this. "Everything I know about these kinds of plans, I passed on when I switched sides. I have to hope that helped a bit." Hence, hoping Karma never comes knocking. "Hey, from one person who finds this entire world confusing, if I can ever help you with something, let me know? I can't promise you I'll have the answers, but we can figure it out together."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Deal," Rachel agrees with a faint smile. "You know, it's the weirdest things that are different, too. Like sometimes it's big things, sometimes it's small things. Sometimes it's hard to tell if it's big or small. And sometimes it's just weird. Like...before everything went to crap, there was this soda when I was a kid, and it just...doesn't exist here. Which sucks, because it was awesome."

At his confession, she goes quiet for a moment, mulling it over. "I'm sure it helped. We're what they made us. But what we do with what they made us is up to us, you know?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Look on the bright side." Bean smiles, trying to lighten the mood again. "Maybe the soda hasn't been invented yet, and you get to introduce all of us to it later."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"You know what," Rachel laughs, "That's a valid point. I mean, my parents aren't even together, so. We've got time." That...wasn't something she intended to bring up. Which is probably why she races on to a new topic without hesitation. "Also, honestly, the //general// availability of things like food in general and junk food specifically here is impressive. This is a part of the world of which I can wholeheartedly approve."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "In that case, you missed a rare treat yesterday." Bean actually grins now. A friendly grin, rather than the ones he used to reserve for ... well... that's another topic entirely. "Breakfast for dinner. French toast, scrambled eggs and sausages, literally for dinner. And wait until Shannon starts cooking in earnest. I've had to add miles to my morning runs."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Damn, that does sound good," Rachel agrees. "If that's the kind of thing I can look forward to, I'm going to have to start rearranging my schedule to be eating at the right time. Funny thing about crappy future world, it doesn't really lend itself to a regular eating schedule. Or healthy eating habits. Still trying to work on those things."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Bean nods. It seems he's either been in the same boat, or understands the problem. "It's easier here. Meals are served at the same time, in the same location. I got used to that for years, had a couple of difficult months when the routine changed. Now it's back to what I'm used to. Or used to be used to. Just show up for meals, eat, do it for a few weeks. Your body will start to get the message eventually. And if it doesn't, or you can't stand the crowd in the mess hall, go to the kitchen. There's always something to eat."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Crowd's the bigger issue," Rachel nods, acknowledging the truth of that statement. "The noise, the people. Makes my skin crawl sometimes. And it's worse because..." She trails off, tapping a finger at her temple and shaking her head. "You think it's bad in there just listening. Teenage brains are loud. And obnoxious. And so, so, so consumed with anxiety and uncertainty that sometimes I just...have to get off campus, you know?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Oh, absolutely. I mean, the crowd gets too much for me at times, and I don't have the entire mind thing going on." Although, Bean does look up at the smoke detector and gives it a scowl. "And just imagine how serious a smoke detector sounds.... yeah, I'm talking to you!... Or just how smug an alarm system can get. We're not even talking about expensive phones and smart watches. If I didn't go for these 6 AM runs, I'd have gone mental a long time ago. Some students like to go out by the lake. I don't. Kind of pointless when you need to have someone go with you all the time."

Marvel Girl has posed:
And then comes the strangest sound. Rachel laughs. A genuine, surprised laugh at the idea of just how a smoke detector sounds. "Sorry," she says quickly, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Sorry. I //totally// get that, but the image was..." She laughs again, a little quieter. "Yeah. No, that's got to be a similar amount of psychic noise. Probably more, given how many electronic devices there are per person." She shudders dramatically.

"Why's someone got to go with you?" she asks, arching a brow.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
Samuel nods, smiling. He doesn't get to share that much with people, and he figured a telepath would understand. "Oven in the kitchen's pretty mellow, but people look at you funny when you talk to an appliance." That might or might not have been a joke. It might even take the sting out of what he has to say next. "I'm on ... special status. That means I can be dangerous to other students, and I'm not allowed to go anywhere or talk to anyone without staff present." He leans out of the bay and gives a wave to a staffer, standing discreetly out of ear shot on the other side of the garage. The wave is returned.

    "And if you ask me, they made the right call."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Awkward." Rachel pauses, then actually flushes a bit. "I'm just gonna say sorry if my previous actions contributed to that," she mutters, sheepish. She doesn't press on the why, though. She's been through enough of the transition from one side to the other herself to know why there's value in keeping someone under watch.

"Though even if you weren't alone, being out by the lake would probably still be a break from the electronic chatter. Oven though, huh?" she asks, smile crooked. "Good to know that one's trustworthy."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "No, I'm pretty sure it's the undiscovered dormant subliminal triggers and my past history of lethal violence that contributed to that." Yes, Bean is going to be straight forward about it. Because he doesn't think Rachel is going to be too shocked by it, and hopes he didn't misread that too much. "Sometimes the chatter gets too much. I haven't hit my breaking point yet, but it'll happen eventually. Alek told me there's a room somewhere that's entirely shielded. So when it gets too much, that's where I'm going. Either that, or I need to build myself a Faraday cage."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Yeah, that tracks." True to his suspicions, Rachel doesn't seem to be flustered at the idea that he might have hidden murder-triggers. "Still, at least you're not the first one. Or alone. Like we said, the world likes to make weapons out of us. But they don't think to think very far past how they want to use us either." She pauses, head tilting curiously. "They have a telepath go digging for those triggers yet?"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Another organisation considered doing that." Bean admits, recalling some of his earlier days in SHIELD custody. For want of something to do, he uncrosses his arms and puts his hands the pockets of his coveralls. "The problem is the same as trying to unleash a virus scanner on a dormant polymorphic virus. There's a good chance the scan itself is the trigger. And the organisation that put them there... let's just say that they're very keen on the death before betrayal thing. The possibility exists that if a telepath goes looking, I'll be dead shortly afterwards. Or the telepath. Or I go entirely off the chain, and believe me, I never want that to happen."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"I doubt any of them had telepaths like ours, though," Rachel wrinkles her nose. "The professor, Jean, Emma, Betsy. Not me," she adds quickly, putting a hand to her chest and shaking her head. "Even odds I'd just sort of..." She punches one fist into the other palm, grimacing. "Shockingly, the people who found me useful for hunting down other mutants weren't huge on finesse. Go figure. I'm sure they're working on it, though. Wanting to find a safe way for you. The wondering..." Trailing off, she shakes her head. "That's the worst part."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
Samuel shrugs. "It's been a few years, I'm actually used to it." You don't need to be a telepath to know that's a blatant lie, not after everything he's said. But his face doesn't betray any emotion about the subject. "Miss Grey... I think had a bit of a look, when I first got here. She's the one who put me on special status, so I guess she found something worth worrying about. But whatever happens happens. There's enough stuff wrong with my mind that I'm not going to worry about if someone left trigger words in there somewhere."

    "I find that people who want to hunt mutants, or metas, or ... y'know, enter any kind of qualifier in here you like, it's all the same to hatred... those people either don't know what subtlety means, or go so subtle they get lost in their own intrigue."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Mostly the first, in my case." Rachel crosses her arms over her chest again, unconsciously guarding as she thinks back on it. "I broke free of the conditioning on my own. Eventually. But for a while after, I worried about the subliminal stuff," she dips her chin toward him. "Now, a while later...Now I'm pretty sure it wasn't anything telepathic or magical or special in any way. Just conditionining. Brutal, ugly conditioning. Which is- Sometimes it feels like it's worse. Because it was still me. I still did it. And some of it's hard to shake. I still always, my first thought is how to take someone down."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Which is why you moved to the side of the bike where I keep the camshaft and the engine head covers." Bean mentions, actually smiling. "They make good improvised weapons. And that's why I'm standing here next to all the screwdrivers and wrenches. Face it, once you get trained to think like that, you never forget it. That's actually saved me not too long ago."

    "But yeah... years of conditioning, of making you actually believe the things they say, the hatred, the bigotry... make you believe all of it, make you part of it. Makes you feel like you want to just... scrub your brain somehow, because it got dirty just thinking like that." Yeah. He's been there, and his hands leave his pockets, suddenly very much aware of the need to keep his hands visible. "Also, full disclosure, I'm currently armed. Baton, front left pocket. The organisation I got away from tried to get me back, I asked for something to help defend myself."

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel's smile quirks at the disclosure. "Thanks," she says, reaching up to ruffle a hand through her hair and looking away for a moment. "Full disclosure, I'm kind of already..." She takes a deep breath, letting it out in a heavy sigh. And then, like changing the photo filter on a picture, the strange pattern of scars and tattoos appears on her face.

"Tada," she drawls, with far less enthusiasm than the phrase implies. "I'm hiding them, all the time. Projecting the idea that they're not there."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "I see." is Bean's measured response. Yes, he looks at the revealed scars and tattoos, but with the same dispassion as if looking at any other scar. "If you feel more comfortable, then do. But you don't have to hide scars from me, you are who you are. It's not the same, not by a long shot, but that's why I wear long sleeves and you'll never see me with my shirt off."

    He looks around the bay, pushes off from the work bench and shakes his head. "Fuck it. The bike will keep. Want to go see if Shannon's made any progress on that Mac and Cheese?"

Marvel Girl has posed:
"It's for me, as much as anyone else," Rachel says slowly, as if it's something she's spent a lot of time thinking about. "I don't want people to see them when they look at me. I don't want to give them that...space in my life. Even if they don't mean anything or the same thing here as they did back home."

The scars disappear with a thought, as if they were never there. "After your description of last night's meal? No way in hell I'm missing the next one," she says with a faint smile, pushing off the tool box.