InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Everything you know is wrong."

Morty (toad) wrote in x_aftermath_x,
@ 2008-12-12 22:23:00

Entry tags:

mars, nightcrawler, storm, toad

Who: Toad, Firefist; tag Storm, Nightcrawler, Mars
When: Saturday, October 27th, 2007 (6:30am)
Where: Xavier's; Storm's office
What: The Morlocks are gone - little help? Oh, and here's another kid.
Status: Complete.
Rating: PG

He placed the little blighter on the seat that 'Storm' had indicated. At least they'd been hospitable enough. It was hard enough to hail a bleeding cab at this hour, let alone find a cabbie who looked easy enough to jack from. "I dunno how much time we have," he told her after turning his back on the little boy. 'Rusty', he was called. That's about as much as Mort knew of him. He did realize that the little monster was a survivor, however, and he decided to bring him to dump with the X-ers since he was headed their way anyhow. Probably have a better home here than with crazy ol' Agnes.

"Who exactly is 'we'?" Ororo wondered, still stirring her coffee. Her eyes shifted from Kurt to the little boy to Toad for the answer to her question.

"Well, it's like this, see. I was hopin' you lot would er, y'know, hop to." Per se. "Bunch of sons-of-bitches came through last night when I was gone and snagged nearly every Morlock in a five mile radius. There are a few back in the city. I heard talk of some place called Genosha. If I remember right, it was in the news a few years back, eh? Bunch of people got 'emselves killed." Or some such.

"Genosha?" She questioned, rhetorically. What in the world... No matter the reason, she knew it couldn't have been good for anyone involved. Her eyes studied Toad's face, as if trying to will him to give her information he most likely didn't have. Her eyes shifted to her husband's after a few moments of silence. She leaned back against her desk and crossed her arms at her chest, the classic Ororo Munroe 'I'm thinking' pose. "How many do you think that would be - all together?"

"Oh shit," he barked a laugh. Like they kept records. How the hell was he supposed to know? Might as well offer a guesstimate, "I'd say around a hundred and twenty."

"Women, children?"

"Babies, elderly..." he continued her list by way of answering, and was beginning to look impatient. "I guess that machine the old man used isn't a lot of use to you lot, is it?" he mused.

Emma. Of course. But she was away for the weekend. She hadn't returned to the school after Shaw's party the night before. "It's not out of commission yet, actually," again, she locked eyes with Kurt. "I've got to contact one of our staff. They'll be able to help," she moved behind the desk. Finally, she looked back to the wide-eyed little guy who was sitting on the window seat in her office. He looked pretty terrified. "Has he eaten recently?" she asked while the phone dialed out to Diamond.

"Dunno."

"Ah." She rolled her eyes frustratedly. They'd get a warm meal in him, asap. But he wasn't the one in danger. The phone rang several times, but it went to Emma's mail. She left a brief, discreet message requesting Emma to return to the grounds post haste. "She didn't pick up. I'll have to try back."

Ororo moved from behind her desk and crouched before the boy. Rusty Collins, Toad had divulged as his name. He didn't have a legal guardian. She sighed through a smile and introduced herself, "Hi, Rusty. I am Mrs. Wagner."

"Hi." His eyes had only glanced once to the white-haired lady in front of him. They went immediately back to the blue man. Rusty'd seen some strange-looking people, but the blue man had a tail. Cool.

"This is my husband Kurt," she nearly grinned, "and we have a little boy about your age." Not technically.

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greatestofease
2008-12-12 11:24 pm UTC (link)

Kurt was on full alert when Toad slinked into Storm's office with a little boy. From what the man had said the little one had no home. There was no way Kurt was letting Toad keep him. Kurt stood (mostly) silent to Ororo and Mortimer, interjecting once or twice with his own questions, which thankfully Toad was polite enough to answer. He breathed a sigh of relief when Toad expressed his feelings about the lad. Hopefully he hadn't treated him badly. The boy was staring at him, though he wasn't afraid like some children tended to be. Ah, the tail. It was always the tail. Kurt gave Rusty a smile and swished his tail, and was pleased when he received a small smile in return from the little boy.

What the hell was Toad doing here? Ronan was already on the first floor, and he intended to investigate the matter. There was another presence in the room as well. Hmm. It felt like a child. Without knocking, he entered the office, giving Toad the once over before he approached the desk. He noticed the little boy by the window (his guess had been correct), though his gaze only passed over him briefly before moving to Storm. She could handle herself (as could Kurt), but he still felt it was his responsibility to check in on things. Especially when it involved a character such as Mortimer Toynbee. "What's goin' on?"

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another_murphy
2008-12-12 11:40 pm UTC (link)

Rusty tried to listen to what the adults were talking about. He knew it was about all of his friends. They were gone, now. Mr. Toad had come back and gotten him, though. But he didn't smell very good. This place smelled much better. It smelled like Gramma. Coffee. But Rusty didn't know what coffee tasted like. It 'stunted your growth'. He was distracted by Kurt's tail when the door opened and he flinched - back away from Mrs. Wagner and closer into the window seat. When the man came in, he went up by the big desk. Rusty scooted forward and his feet dangled. He watched for a moment while Mrs. Wagner stood again and faced the man. She was answering his question. His voice was good. It reminded him of something he liked. Something good. It was more nicer than Mrs. Wagner's or Kurt's. Or Toad's...

His feet touched the floor and he was in a dead run, only stopping when his chest hit Mars just above the knee. His arms enveloped his thigh and he pressed his face against his pant leg. His eyebrows furrowed, decidedly. He wasn't letting go.

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Co-Post (Storm/Toad)

storming
2008-12-12 11:54 pm UTC (link)

After Ronan entered (which hadn't been a surprise), Storm explained the situation to him, as best she could. She was about to suggest that someone take Rusty to the kitchen when he made a run for Mars' leg. She pinched her lips together in a tight smirk and clasped her hands together in front of her. "This is Rusty," she told the Irishman. "He's going to be living here, I think."

"Yes, he is. While he's livin' here, other people are out there, dyin'." Toad interjected. Jesus, the kid was clinging to the Irish fuck. Of course. No wonder he hadn't been too fond of him.

"And we're going to try to help them," Storm said, her tone going motherly!stern. She'd fried Toad before. She'd do it again. He was lucky he'd made it through the gate. "But we'll have to be patient and figure out why this has happened. We'll get to the bottom of this."

"Welp, while you kids are playin' gumshoe, I'm gonna go ask some more questions. If you find anything out, lemme know." He dropped a grungy slip of paper on Storm's desk, gave Rusty one last glance, then made for the door. "I won' steal nothin'. Don't bother showin' me out." Slam. He poked his head back in. "Thanks." Slam.

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upgradeyou
2008-12-13 12:12 am UTC (link)

As Ronan listened to Storm, the little thing moved from the window seat to attach himself to his leg like a mollusk in less than ten seconds. Oh. He glanced down at Rusty and his eyes moved back up to Storm's amused blue ones. Kurt looked almost smug. The kid was going to live here? Great. He hoped the kid knew he wasn't spending his days clinging to him. The boy looked pretty damned young, though. When Toad slammed the door, Ronan's stance relaxed a bit (though not much as Rusty hadn't yet released his leg). "Hey," he said to him, looking down at his small form. "Storm'll take ye for some food if ye let me go." From the look of his shabby clothes and undernourished appearance, Mars was pretty sure the greenish man hadn't taken very good care of the lad. Kurt was looking amused. Ronan shot him annoyed look. "Ye want him?" he gestured downward.

Kurt grinned at the Irishman. "If I thought he would go with me I vould, but I think you've made a friend."

That asshole. Ronan didn't have time to babysit. He looked to Storm then, "Well?" In all honesty Ronan felt sorry for the little brat, but that didn't mean he had to deal with him.

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storming
2008-12-13 01:43 am UTC (link)

She finally laughed. It was nice, what with all the upcoming stress and all. She took in a deep breath, then sighed it out with amusement. "Can you find him some breakfast? I bet Gert's already up." It was probably some consolation to the inventor. Gert was great with little ones. "Rusty, do you want to go have something to eat? You can change and have a bath, too." She locked eyes with Mars on the last few words she spoke and then moved back behind her desk. "I need to get a hold of Emma." She had business to do, and there were plenty of people around to look after their new addition. As for Toad, she assumed Kurt planned to make sure the Englishman made it safely off the property.

"No bath!" Ronan's new accessory shouted. "No!"

"Eventually..." Storm murmured as she looked over the contact information for Emma that was displayed on the screen before her. Once more her eyes glanced up, letting Mars know he needed to make sure the young one got clean, even if he had to hose him down. She smiled, though, and it reached her eyes. Ooooh, this was fun.

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