Owner	Pose
Rachel Grey	Xavier's School has an excellent fitness center. Treadmills. Gardens. Plenty of room for any kind of exercise. But it's also full of people, and voices, and thoughts, and memories, and... Enough things that Rachel usually ventures out if she wants to clear her head. The area around the school is quiet enough anyhow, and it gives her a chance to push herself. In joggers, a tank top, and sneakers, she's out for a run along the side of the road, enjoying a little bit of peace and quiet while she keeps her edge. She's definitely running like she's training for something too - no 'ate an extra side of french fries' jog here.
Pulse	Pulse is sick to his stomach and crouched behind some bushes at the edge of the road where someone's beautifully manicured lawn stops and the forest park starts. The hedges did a wonderful job of blocking the view into the landscaped property, but were a terrible idea from a safety point of view. But Westchester is a safe place. He swallows hard and slows his breathing. "I fucking hate this," he whispers to himself. A chance tip, a matching description, a wink about mutants he did not understand. That is what he had to go on. Invisible to psionics, he waits for the young woman to run past him, listening to her footfalls approach.
Rachel Grey	Rachel's breathing and footfalls are measured despite their speed, the movements of someone who's used to pushing herself and knows just how important being able to keep going can be. Out here is one of the few times she can let her shields down a little bit, though there's always that background hum of psychic activity, projecting to the world around her that the tattoos and scars on her face marking her as a Hound just aren't there. Even out here. At this point, it's just as natural as breathing to her. She doesn't seem to expect anyone behind the hedge. After all, there's no sense of a person in her mind, and Westchester isn't known for its hedge-lurkers.
Pulse	When the woman comes into view, Pulse's eyes flash and energy radiates from him like a cold wind. He jumps in behind Rachel from his place behind the hedge and reaches to try and grab her around the waist with one arm with the other hand over her face. He rotates as he makes his attempt at a grab, to turn her momentum towards the ground and land on her.
Rachel Grey	There's a split-second where Rachel is surprised. She can feel her sense of everything around her flicker when that pulse hits her. Pulse can probably see the markings on her face reappear when her powers go out. Unfortunately for Pulse, Rachel doesn't necessarily need her powers. That split-second of slowing down when she felt her powers go out changes the dynamic, shifting her slightly out of phase with her planned attack. More than that, though, she doesn't hesitate when she feels a touch. She jumps upward, leaning back, only to throw herself back toward the ground, bending forward at the waist and grabbing the arm over her mouth to try to keep a grip as she tries to flip him over her head.
Pulse	Despite the height difference, the woman's jump and throw catches Pulse by surprise. He was not expecting that kind of reaction. "What the fuck?!" Instinctively, Pulse tries to pull his other arm in tightly around the woman's waist. When she gets below his center of gravity and he starts going over her shoulder, he tries to bear hug her to drag her down with him. He hits the pine needle covered ground beside the sidewalk on his shoulder, doing his best to pull the woman down with him.
Rachel Grey	Rachel goes down with him - body weight and momentum being what they are - but she keeps hold of his other arm in the process, twisting it as she comes down to bring a knee hard against his chest. "What the fuck //me//?" she says, glaring down from behind a mask of dark tattoos and scars across her face, teeth bared. "What the fuck you!"
Pulse	Pulse pushes his butt up off the ground with one leg and pulls his gun out from his waistband with his free arm. He looks furious and the gun has just come free and tilted up toward Rachel's midsection when his body goes rigid. "Oh shit," he says, his eyes going wide. "You're not her. Fuck!" he swears, frustrated and anguished.
Rachel Grey	Rachel doesn't release him, but reaches her other hand for the gun to twist his wrist and slap it away. "Yeah, I get that a lot. Usually not with a murder attempt, though." Her grip on his arm tightens, jaw clenching against a few more violent and fiery urges that luckily can't quite be fulfilled at the moment. "Who the hell are you and what the hell do you think you're doing?"
Pulse	When Rachel reaches for the gun, Pulse pulls down on her sharply with his trapped arm, trying to simply overpower her when she is not fully balanced. He twists sideways when he does to slip her knee off his chest and into the dirt. He keeps a fistful of her shirt as he tries to get to his feet. At 125lbs, Rachel is almost exactly half his weight and he uses that to his advantage "I'm not here for you, okay? I'm not gonna fucking hurt you!" he shouts at her, trying to get his feet under him so he can push her away.
Rachel Grey	Rachel isn't very big, but she's got plenty of mean. It's the sort of thing that happens when you lose your whole world and get brainwashed into helping tear the remnants down. "You literally jumped me from the bushes with a gun!" It //is// the sort of thing that damages trust, after all. He manages to push her off, but she's not going to stop fighting just because of that. Letting go of the hand with the gun, she slams the side of her hand toward his throat. It doesn't seem like she's familiar with a situation wherein losing is not equal to death. Or at least it's going to take her a minute to remember that's a thing.
Pulse	Pulse's eyes flare when she strikes out at him. He leans back barely just far enough to be out of reach, momentarily grateful for his height. His free hand balls into a fist and his body shakes. "The hit's not on you, crazy bitch," he roars at her. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" he shouts, stepping backward. He presses hand with gun against his head, the barrel pointed up. Pulse growls and throws the gun into the woods. "I'm not doing this shit anymore! I'm not!" he shouts at Rachel, point at her. It's not at all clear who he is talking to right now.
Rachel Grey	Well, apparently someone is having a worse day than Rachel is. Or at least it seems that way. "I'm not sure why you think me not being the //actual// person you were planning to kill somehow makes things better," she says, though at least she's released him, standing up and looking a little calmer. She sounds calmer, at least. Her eyes narrow as she watches him, framed by those dark markings on her face. "How'd you turn off my powers?"
Pulse	"Because they're gonna fucking kill /me/!" Pulse shouts back. "Because... Shit!" Pulse punches the tree beside him frustration. "Cause I'm a mutie, alright? That's why they make me kill muties!" Pulse looks around suddenly realizing he may be in immediate as well as imminent trouble. He starts backing away from Rachel. "Just get the fuck out of here. Go home, whatever. This isn't about you."
Rachel Grey	"So you're a-" What? A mutant who hunts and kills other mutants? Rachel stops short, all of her anger dissipating in a flash when she makes that connection. Not that she particularly wants to show it. "Okay, hold up a minute. First of all, could you do me a favor and, you know, turn off the turning off? Because people start to ask really weird questions and I'm not in the mood to answer them after getting jumped. Second of all, who were you //supposed// to kill?"
Pulse	Pulse's eyes flicker again and the world returns to normal. He does not exist psychically and looks about ready to lose his shit. "The fuck do you care? Less you know the better," he says. He keeps backing off watching her warily, looking for a chance to break and run.
Rachel Grey	"Why would I //not// care?" Rachel squints at him, taking slow steps to keep up without spooking him. "You're planning on killing someone. That's generally frowned upon. Also, there are people around here that I've been confused with before, and I'd rather they not end up dead." She pauses, rolling her eyes with a massive sigh. "Look, I've been where you are before, okay? But maybe if you tell me more about what's going on, I could help."
Pulse	"You don't know shit about me," Pulse says, pointing at her again. "Fuck off, go home, change your hair, whatever. Forget about this." He turns and runs down the street and around a corner.
Rachel Grey	"I don't know shit about you? I am //literally// a //psychic// who was forced to hunt down other mutants!" Rachel shouts after him. In her normal life, she would never shout that. Never boil it down to something so brutally short. But there's something freeing about a stranger. Especially when she doesn't have to worry about feeling his response to the words. It's almost cathartic.
Pulse	/That/ brings Pulse up short. He turns on the spot and comes storming back. "/Are/ you Wreck? This a trick? Who the fuck do you work for, Genovese?" he demands.
Rachel Grey	"My name is Rachel Grey. I'm from a world - a future - where mutants were systematically hunted down, interned, and often killed. And they used me to help them do it." Wow, it //is// cathartic. She takes a deep breath, gaze steady. "I failed there. I refuse to let the same thing happen here. So if someone's using you to hunt down other mutants? Yeah, I know how that feels. And I'll do everything in my power to stop it." A beat. "Your own trick notwithstanding, my power is pretty considerable, for the record."
Pulse	Pulse looks at Rachel like she has grown another head. Whatever his experience has been with mutants it has not included people claiming to be from the future. "Are you like, fucked up or high or something? I didn't hit you," he says, confused, easing off. "Like, I'm sorry. You're the wrong girl. I'm sure you're all powerful and shit," he says entirely unconvincingly. "I'll deal with my own shit. Now get out of here before someone capls the cops."
Rachel Grey	Rachel rolls her eyes, scrubbing a hand over her face. "Okay. Cool. Sounds good. You keep being a bitch for whoever the person is that holds your leash, hunting down your own people and wondering when someone's going to be hunting you because the alternative is believing the girl half your size that kicked your ass even without her powers." She crosses her arms over her chest, standing hipshot with one brow arched. "Gangs that you already said were going to kill you if you screwed up sound like a way better bet."
Pulse	"You didn't kick my ass, I fucking stopped," Pulse sputters, fists balling. "I could have fucking shot you, kid." He looks around again, getting antsy. When his eyes catch the light from street lamp it's pretty clear he's high. "Whatever, I'm getting out of here," he says backing off again. "Just forget it, forget all of it." He turns to run and get out of the area before someone calls the cops about all the shouting.
Rachel Grey	"Not gonna forget about it." Rachel doesn't give chase just yet, keeping har arms crossed over her chest. Like she said, tracking down mutants is basically the one use of her power that she's honed to near perfection. She can wait."