InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "How did you find my village?"

Anna Marie has done good (run_away) wrote in newalliance,
@ 2012-05-09 21:05:00

Entry tags:

cypher, gambit, iceman, rogue, shadowcat

Who: Rogue, Iceman, Gambit, Shadowcat & Doug Ramsey
Where: The Ramsey Home, Gotham, NJ
When: May 9th, 2012
What: The X-Men come to speak to Doug about what he is and a special school.
Rating: SFW

Rogue and the others had been told where to go find a boy named Douglas Ramsey. According to Professor X, he was a mutant and it was important that they at least talk to him. To let him know that he had a place he could go. So they all suited up and packed into a car to go Gotham. It was something that Rogue wasn't necessarily looking forward to. The first time she came to Gotham, she had a mental breakdown, the last time she saw it, she was leaving Arkham Asylum. The place held no memory worth keeping, except maybe that she met Remy here and he told her she wasn't crazy. The same thing that Professor Xavier would tell her.

When they drove into Gotham she sunk into her seat a little further and avoided looking out the window. As they pulled in front of the Ramsey home, she told herself to relax. They all piled out of the car and came to the front door. It was odd, standing there for something of a house call and dressed in their uniforms. While a majority of them were casual, it was still a bit of a sight and sure to draw the looks and questions of neighbors.

"Hi," Rogue drawled once the door opened, "We're here to speak to Doug, is he home?"

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bobsicle
2012-05-10 06:20 pm UTC (link)

"So, whose idea was it to wear uniforms for this?" Bobby asked, adjusting the collar of his X-Uniform. He'd been fairly sure the standard procedure was to show up to someone's home in plainclothes to show the human side of being a mutant. As they stood in broad daylight in uniform, Bobby figured it would look to the Ramsey family like he's being recruited to join an army. Which wasn't really accurate, but it wasn't exactly inaccurate either. A case could be made for both sides.

As Rogue greeted the member of the family who opened the door, Bobby glanced around, expecting to see the kind of scalloped cape the news sources had identified the Bat-Guy as wearing. But it was broad daylight, so sure they wouldn't run into him, right?

Right?

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chargeddeck
2012-05-10 08:43 pm UTC (link)

Remy was comfortable in Gotham. Remy was comfortable most places. He'd done enough work here and thus far avoided the Bat and his wider family that he didn't consider them a threat. The imposing architecture and shadows were also of little bother. Where the others saw darkness, he picked out hiding spots and quick exits. He'd been the most relaxed the entire journey there.

He was the first out of the vehicle, making a point of holding Rogue's door open for her. "Like old times, hein?" He smiled, trying to make Rogue feel at ease with the briefest squeeze of her shoulder as he pushed the door shut behind her.

Then it was back to business, and as Remy's uniform was pretty much the same as his everyday clothes the order to suit up was of no real bother to him.

He hung back a little from Rogue and Bobby at the door, very aware he was not the poster-boy for the Xavier School. An image not helped by the fact he was rolling himself a cigarette.

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proudcat
2012-05-11 06:44 am UTC (link)

Gotham and Kitty were not seeing eye to eye at the moment. She was silent on the drive there, keeping her eyes on the passing scenery while her mind completely ignored it, instead focused on her last trip to the city. It didn’t help that the last time she wore her uniform had been that devastating day. When she closed her eyes, she could see the explosion that killed the man she was trying to save. When she tried to sleep, she heard the Riddler’s voice telling her that she failed. So she napped lightly when she could and spent her nights scouring the world for one Edward Nigma. She would help bring him down if it was the last thing she ever did.

They made it to the Ramsey’s home sooner than she expected, having zoned so far out during the drive that the hours had passed. Once they made it to the door, she hung back with Remy, letting Rogue and Bobby take the lead. Part of her thought of the boy, ‘Cypher’, who had reached out to her online, wondering if one day they would be making a house call like this with him. She hoped so.

Glancing at Remy, frowning as he rolled a cigarette, she looked up at him as someone answered the door. “Really? Do you have to do that right now?”

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bobsicle
2012-05-11 07:41 am UTC (link)

Gotham had been a miserable experience for Kitty, so Bobby had been watching her rather closely on the trip over here. His attempts to keep her mood upbeat were kind of forced, though, since the city made him uncomfortable as well. He hadn't received a first-hand experience of Gotham's trademark insanity, but it was probably a matter of time.

As Kitty admonished Gambit for rolling a cigarette, he placed a hand on her shoulder to hopefully get her to relax. Not that he could disagree with her about Gambit's actions; it wasn't exactly improving their public image.

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	run_away 2012-05-14 02:09 pm UTC (link)
	"Remy, shugah, put that out, think of the children," Rogue teased and looked at Kitty who had said it in more motherly tones. She gave him a smile and something of a look of pleading and then turned her attention to the other two X-men in her company. It looked like the boy they were looking for was coming to do the door... OOC: continued below... (Reply to this) (Parent)

ciphersays
2012-05-13 05:15 am UTC (link)

The door opened to the house, and Philip Ramsey stood there, holding a glass of orange juice, his tie loosened and collar unbuttoned. He stared at the four of them, silently, even after Rogue had already addressed him. "That would be my son..." he said, wariness in his voice but not complete surprise. "Hold on."

He closed the door.

Muffled shouts, the kind that would happen from the bottom of a stairwell to above occurred, and a few moments later a blonde boy in his late teens opened the door.

Doug looked at them first with a little surprise, then with recognition. "Let me guess. The X stands for the x-factor, a.k.a the mutant gene, and you're not here to sell cookies."

These guys had come at the wrong time. He'd just discovered that Edward Nigma had killed someone else. Doug had not been there to try and stop it, as was his plan. Eddie had come to him for something big planned against the mysterious agency known as SHIELD, and it was his hope to reach out to the Riddler, to suggest a better path than killing. He was still absorbing the news, and was busy figuring out how to now trap the Riddler instead.

He was going to have to shut down the sales pitch before it started. There were... commitments here.

Something caught Doug's eye.

The paper had shown pictures a girl who moved through things like air had been there when this new victim died.... a power identical to someone he'd not long ago talked to online in a Mutant Outreach chat room. Doug looked at the way each was dressed. On one end , it was quasi-militaristic, on another slapped together without a care. The girl at the back looked a lot like the one from the paper.

Doug nodded to the two in front, trying to be polite, but sidestepped them. "ProudCat?"

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run_away
2012-05-14 02:13 pm UTC (link)

A teenage boy came to the door and they received the looks that Rogue expected they would. "X-Men, actually," she drawled, "But that's close enough to what it is and sorry, we're fresh outta cookies. The Cajun got hungry on the way here." She nudged a thumb in Remy's direction, but kept a smile on her face to keep things light.

"ProudCat?" Rogue repeated and glanced back over her shoulder to look at Kitty. She was the only one with a feline nickname and the boy, he'd met her before? Maybe he remembered her from the paper. Just the other day Kitty had...

Rogue pressed her lips together tight and motioned for Kitty, "Maybe you should take the lead on this one."

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proudcat
2012-05-14 04:01 pm UTC (link)

Kitty had shaken her head at Remy's actions, reaching up to squeeze Bobby's hand before turning to give him a small smile. Clasping her hands behind her back, she dropped her eyes to the ground as they all waited for the boy to come to the door. She glanced up and smirked a little at the boys sarcasm as he seemed to already be rejecting their presence, but then recognition sparked in his eyes and Kitty inwardly groaned. This better not be because of the papers...

Kitty's eyebrow quirked at her online handle, her hands dropping to her side as she looked around at her teammates, Rogue especially since she had verbally questioned it. "Mutant Outreach," she explained. It was the only place she really used it, Shadowcat having already been taken. She had been miffed about that, but there wasn't much she could do. So it was one of the kids from there, one that knew of her power and clearly put two and two together when it came to news and the online forum. She didn't know where any of the kids lived, except for the one so it was a shot in the dark when Kitty gave Doug a small smile.

"Cypher?" Kitty asked, hoping that she was correct and not going to embarrass the boy by forgetting or guessing wrong. Wouldn't this be a small world if it were actually true.

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ciphersays
2012-05-15 05:33 am UTC (link)

Doug nodded solemnly, remembering their conversation on the Mutant Outreach forum, then stepped fully outside, closing the door behind him. "Sorry. Gotham," he explained, "can't trust most strangers not to be crazy, grifters, or part of some wacky cult."

Doug frowned sympathetically at Kitty, wanting to say something about Riddler, how she wasn't alone. But not on his doorstep, not while they were all standing out.

He could see his mother watching from the window. Doug gave her an 'everything's fine' wave and nervous smile. "There's a coffee and gaming place two blocks from here. You can tell me about the... X-Men, and what this is all about," he offered, looking at all of them in as friendly a manner as he could put up.

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chargeddeck
2012-05-15 08:39 pm UTC (link)

Gambit chuckled as Kitty admonished him and Bobby shot him a look. "Dese hands need occupyin', Petite Chat. Smokin' be number three on my list and seein' as de first two be off de menu right now..." He didn't finish his sentence as Rogue chimed in. Which in the grand scheme of things was probably for the best. Remy's top two things to keep his hands occupied were stealing and Rogue (not necessarily in that order). With a shrug he put out the cigarette with a pinch and tucked it behind an ear.

Doug came to the door after his father and Rogue teased Remy again. It was a good sign in his book that she had, it showed she was comfortable enough around him to crack a joke at the Cajun's expense. "Guilty as charged, Ami." He chuckled.

Then he immediately began planning their next date.

Which meant Gambit had zoned out a little when Doug and Kitty had their exchange, but remained involved enough to follow the young mutant's eyes to his mother. Mrs Ramsey was duly flashed a smile that had a tendency to make women's knees that little bit weaker.

"Allons-y," Gambit offered to the suggestion of coffee. "Beats standin' here like de heavy mob, hein?"

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bobsicle
2012-05-15 10:16 pm UTC (link)

As part of a team like the X-Men, one learned the necessity of multitasking. Like being a student and saving the world. Or in Bobby's case, being a teacher, balancing the school's books, and saving the world. Or, in this particular case, reaching out to a young mutant and wrangling Gambit. Yep, this was a full-time job.

He was surprised when the Ramsey kid immediately recognized Kitty and called her by her handle on Mutant Outreach. Thanks to Kitty, Bobby knew about the site as well, and he even had a handle there -- his was Bobsicle. He tried to remember a "Cipher" on there, but no one sprung to mind, and he supposed there was any number of ways that could've been spelled.

Ramsey's comment about crazy people, grifters, and cults earned a chuckle from Bobby. "Oh, believe me, I understand completely. And about all I can do is assure you we're not grifters." He cast a sidelong glance at Gambit and silently groaned. Come to think of it, that particular Leverage character class was probably covered.

"Coffee and gaming?" Bobby replied to the offer, ears perking up. "Two of my favorite things. Lead the way."

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run_away
2012-05-16 01:09 am UTC (link)

Ah, well, that made sense. Mutant Outreach, that is. Rogue nodded with a smile and knew that if anyone was going to need to do the talking now, at least for starters, it was going to be Kitty. She, in the end, was probably the most personable about it all. Apparently the boy's name was Cypher, or that was his handle. Rogue went on it occasionally, but never really spoke to anyone. It always made her feel wrong trying to give advice.

She picked up on the boy's nervous smile though. "Yeah, we can do that, no problem." She gave a worried look, briefly, to the others and decided to linger behind a bit. Whenever people were nervous, some part of her immediately concluded it was because of her. Natural instinct was to hang back until she felt sure it wasn't her.

"What sort of games are they?" she asked for some casual conversation on the way, "Those fightin' ones or the shooters?"

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	ciphersays 2012-05-16 06:47 am UTC (link)
	Doug smiled, though had a difficult time looking directly at the pretty girl with the odd hair. He did for a moment, then tried to look naturally at the man with the long coat speaking with a cajun accent, then Bobby. "Billiards, darts, foosball, pinball, and some old arcade games. Yeah, some shooters. It looks retro, but we, uh... we should fit in nicely." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

proudcat
2012-05-16 11:41 am UTC (link)

Kitty really wasn't up to taking the lead on the conversation at the moment, so was grateful when it was paused for the time being to move to a better location. She looked at the window and smiled at the mom before turning her attention back to the teenager who seemed to be having a hard time not staring at Rogue. She suppressed her eye roll at the reaction and relaxed a little as the conversation went to what games would be there to most likely tempt one or two of them from the business at hand. Okay, so she could use a few rounds of button mashing, but she would do what needed to be done first.

"Fit in nicely?" Sarcasm rolled off her tongue as she gestured to her own uniform before looking at Bobby and Rogue's as well. Yes, fit in nicely was one way to put it. Gambit would fit in better than the rest of them. "Let's hope it isn't all that busy." Kitty added under her breath as she smiled and waited for Doug, who knew where they were going, to lead the way.

"So Doug, I guess this would be a good time to let you know our names. It's only fair since we already know yours and it'll put your Mom's mind at ease that you aren't running off with complete strangers..." She glanced back over her shoulder to check the window again. Looking at Doug, she smiled brightly. "I'm Kitty Pryde. You already know me, obviously, as ProudCat, but that's only because Shadowcat was already taken. Which is what I usually go by when I'm in this get up."

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chargeddeck
2012-05-17 08:49 pm UTC (link)

Gambit hung back with Rogue, making sure he matched pace with her as they went. He didn't say anything or make comment about how her shoulders had hunched ever so slightly as if she was drawing into herself but simply made sure he was there.

Then the introductions started as they walked and Remy waited for his turn. Ever the entertainer, when it arrived he plucked the cigarette from behind his ear and popped it between his lips. With a smirk he willed a small charge from his mouth and a bright purple ring formed around the paper, travelling along until it reached the end and popped, bursting the cigarette back into life.

If his eye colouring hadn't given him away as a mutant, that certainly would have. "Gambit," he said through a cloud of smoke.

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