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John Young | The Tomorrow People (isnotyourson) wrote in madisonvalley,
@ 2018-12-03 20:00:00

Entry tags:

!closed, !log, ~2018 december, ~25 points, ~~john young (isnotyourson), ~~~rogue (risky_touch)

WHO: Rogue and John Young
WHAT: Meeting a mutant
WHEN: Forward dated to tomorrow morning
WHERE: Starbucks
WARNINGS: TBD
STATUS: Closed/Ongoing

After a late night last night, John was up early this morning. He had a lot of things to do - first of all, he needed to find a job. He still had a good bit of the money they'd given him, but he knew it wasn't going to last very long. Trouble was, he'd never actually worked in his life - aside from his time with Ultra, and that wasn't exactly something he was going to put on a job application. So he was starting at the beginning, grabbing a newspaper and looking through the classifieds for something that he was qualified to do.

Starbucks was the best place to do that, especially since he was nursing a small addiction to Gingerbread Lattes. He couldn't help himself - they just tasted like Christmas and freedom, and he loved sitting in Starbucks, watching the people, knowing that nobody was actually out to hurt him.

This morning, however, everything was crowded and there was only one seat left. It was beside a girl he didn't know, but he went up to her and smiled kindly.

"Can I sit here? Promise I won't bother you."

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risky_touch
2018-12-04 01:17 am UTC (link)

Most people had long since learned to avoid Rogue. She gave off a pretty icy vibe that unless she'd let you in, she'd be happy to scare you off. She was not known to be the friendliest of sorts.

So the look she turned on him was frigid but she looked around to see her table was the only one open and she sighed heavily, waving a gloved hand for him to sit down.

She was dressed throat to toe in clothing, though it looked comfortable, her hands were covered in leather gloves, but not winter gloves. It was warm in Starbucks, but she'd made no move to shed a layer.

"Yeah, sure, whatever have a seat."

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isnotyourson
2018-12-04 01:39 am UTC (link)

John was not a person who was easily scared away. He could fight well enough and use his powers well enough that he usually didn't have to fear people - especially in this place where Ultra wasn't a thing. He could tell that she didn't really want him to sit, but it wasn't like he had a choice. It was the only seat left and he'd really been looking forward to sitting down, reading the paper, and drinking his latte. So he gave her a half nervous smile before taking the seat and opening his paper. He was quiet for a bit before looking over at her.

"Are you cold? I mean, it's pretty warm in here."

Just his luck, he'd chosen to sit by someone who had the flu or something. Not that he'd get it. But still.

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	risky_touch 2018-12-04 07:18 pm UTC (link)
	"I'm not dressed to stay warm, or ward off the flu or anything." she said after a moment as she sipped her coffee and turned a page in the logbook she'd been working her way through. "I'm bundled up to protect everyone else from me." before she looked back down and made a mark in red pen on a page, after a moment she looked back up again. People. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

isnotyourson
2018-12-06 01:41 am UTC (link)

That caused John to raise an eyebrow curiously. What did she mean by that? She didn't look dangerous to him, and in his world, there weren't any powers that were, well, dangerous on their own. They had to be made that way by those who possessed them.

"Protect them from what about you?"

He raised an eyebrow, curious. He knew he probably shouldn't, but he just couldn't help it.

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risky_touch
2018-12-06 02:01 pm UTC (link)

Rogue carefully marked her place in her work before she looked up at him. She folded her arms on the table and smiled a little.

"My skin is deadly. At the very least, my skin will steal memories, thoughts, powers from whoever I touch. At the worst, death can be a side effect. So I dress when I'm out so no one can accidentally brush against me and I steal a copy of their thoughts and memories. I don't particularly like having more people in my head anyway."

She lifted a brow as if to say, let me guess you don't believe me? Before sighing, no one ever did without a demonstration and she really hated that.

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isnotyourson
2018-12-07 04:07 am UTC (link)

Well, that certainly sounded like a terrible type of ability, and it entirely explained her less than friendly demeanor, too. How horrible would it be to be stuck with a power that made it so that you couldn't touch anyone? John couldn't imagine.

He did believe her, though. Of course he did. He knew that abilities existed, and in his time since he'd arrived here he knew that they weren't always like they were back home.

"I'm sorry," was all he could think of to say.

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risky_touch
2018-12-07 04:24 am UTC (link)

She blinked for a moment, not expecting to just be believed. Then one shoulder arched up in a shrug, it wasn't the worst ability but it certainly had it's downsides.

"It has it's uses. From time to time." Unless you stuck with it, Rogue was a fortress. If you managed to get past the walls, she was much nicer. She was still sore about the town sending them out West, without powers,. It had been a horrible tease.

She sighed a little, "sorry. I'm not usually this unfriendly."

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isnotyourson
2018-12-07 10:47 pm UTC (link)

"No, I totally get it," he said, waving away her apology. "Honestly, I'm surprised you're as friendly as you are, having to deal with that kind of thing. It sucks to be different, and it would especially suck to be different in a way that isolates you even more than it has to."

It wasn't pity - John didn't pity anyone, because he knew exactly how that felt and hated it. It was more...the way he felt in his own mind was very similar to that. He was a killer when he shouldn't have been. He'd been warped and altered and made into something terrible, and that made him feel isolated as well.

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risky_touch
2018-12-08 04:04 pm UTC (link)

Rogue knew the difference, now, between pity and not. It had taken here awhile and older people still pitied her. It annoyed her. She'd also tried to cure herself and found it was too weird to not have powers. Oh she'd enjoyed it but she'd missed a part of her.

"It took a long time to not be so abrasive. I do fail at that from time to time but generally I try not to take it out on everyone. Beyond a few icy looks to keep away from me, anyway."

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isnotyourson
2018-12-08 11:59 pm UTC (link)

"It's nobody's fault," he said, "But that doesn't make it any easier." He sighed. "I was just a kid when I discovered my own powers," he remembered. "It wasn't easy, either then, or later. But I found I could help people with them, even as a little kid. It was..." He stopped abruptly. It hadn't always been nice. He'd gotten people killed when he'd just been trying to help them.

"It's not fair," he said finally. "The way people with powers are treated. As if we've done this on purpose. As if we even understand what they are or where they come from. It just isn't fair."

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risky_touch
2018-12-09 01:43 pm UTC (link)

Rogue agreed, "No, it doesn't. Not really." she said softly the nodded a bit, "It's rough trying to navigate how things work, how to help people, or get sucked into bad things and then trying to figure out how to get out of all that mess." she shrugged speaking from personal experience.

"Or we get treated poorly because there's always a few bad eggs who hurt everyone on purpose, so everyone with powers is bad." she rolled her eyes.

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	isnotyourson 2018-12-10 04:48 am UTC (link)
	"Or," he said, "They just want to use us. Because they're jealous of what we have and they don't." That was the reason more times than John wanted to admit. Simple jealousy caused so many of the bad things that happened to them. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

risky_touch
2018-12-12 05:14 am UTC (link)

A real smile from her at that. "Hate that. Being used. Been used a lot, been tricked into thinking it was my idea,too. They'd not be jealous if they saw the negatives that come with the powers. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."

Being used. She'd been there too many times to count. Even the good guys used her.

She looked down at her leather clad hand and sight. "Pardon my manners, I'm Rogue."

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	isnotyourson 2018-12-12 05:21 am UTC (link)
	“John,” he said, not trying to shake her hand. He wasn’t afraid of her, but he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, either. “It’s the way of things, I guess. People want what they can’t have, and hate those who have it. It’s sad but true.” (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

risky_touch
2018-12-12 05:25 am UTC (link)

Rogue, for once, didn't worry about it. He understood, well enough, what being different was like. She could tell, he hadn't been trying to be offensive, just mindful. She could count on one hand those who were like that. They were her best friends.

Ok so Johanna hugged her anyway.

"A pleasure, John. That's the story of humanity, I guess. Want, need, jealousy, envy. It can get to even the nicest of people."

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	isnotyourson 2018-12-12 05:31 am UTC (link)
	John smiled at her sadly. “It’s true. And it’s not going to change, I’m afraid, no matter what we do.” He glanced back at his paper. “Now, I’ll leave you in peace and see if I can’t find myself a job.” He grinned and turned to his paper, enjoying the companionable silence. [OOC: Wrap?] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	risky_touch 2018-12-12 05:41 am UTC (link)
	[Wrap!] (Reply to this) (Parent)