to me, my x-men

[vexant]

WHO: the mutants and whoever might be hanging around the institute
WHEN: after mission 13
WHERE: the institute
WHAT: important team meetings
NOTES\WARNINGS: if nobody gets punched at some point then we're doing it wrong probably.


( julian said he'd put out the call for a team meeting, which means every person who has lived at the institute at one point or another and could be counted as part of the x-men gets a text directing them to the main family room of the institute in the afternoon, where the couch has seen better days and julian can be found leaning a hip up against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest if he isn't obnoxiously gesturing for them to get inside already.

there are no prepared snacks, and nothing particularly special going on here. aside from the fact julian called everyone in. which. maybe it counts for something. )

Comments

[vexant]

Anyway -

( once everyone's shown up, julian figures it's probably time to address the room, uncrossing his arms to raise a hand up and gesture to - everyone. kind of. )

We're down Magik, so we're back to having one of the shittiest mixes of mutants possible in a fucked other dimension, so. Figured we should probably figure out what the hell we're doing, especially given we've got two Scotts, and they're both basically babies.

( this is a very helpful way to start a meeting and clearly he knows exactly what he called everyone here for and what he's doing. )

[sophielicious]

(Fuck you, Julian, no snacks, really? She arrives in her uniform, only to see an empty room and Julian rushing them in. Ugh, okay, she'll be right back with pretzels and chips and whatnot. Savage. Barbaric. She'll find a place to sit with long legs and arms, sunglasses on top of her head, coffee in her hold.

She feels like she's going to hate something here. She just doesn't know what.

Then he speaks. Fuck, she misses Illyana so much.)

Define 'what the hell we're doing'.

[vexant]

If another mission happens where we're all made powerless, we're pretty much all fucked.

( he's saying we to be polite, he really means sophie and quentin are fucked, but there's probably no need to really specify that. probably. okay, and tykeclops is also fucked. julian's maybe a little fucked. point being: them being fucked is obvious and their numbers are minimal so they may as well try and figure out shit together. )

But we've got time now to figure crap out before Aurora drops the next one on us, so. We should figure crap out.

[redvisor]

( scott stands there off to the side in the room, arms folded in front of his chest. this is who they have. this is the x-men here in etraya. alright. )

There’s the danger room for basic training if anyone is interested. I can offer support there since relying solely on our mutation isn’t always going to be a thing we can do depending on the mission.

( he’s just putting it out there as an option. but also.. )

We’ve got a jet now at least. Asked Aurora for it and she seems to have pulled through with that.

[laserguy]

[Is this is what a X-Men meeting is like? If so, it's awkward, and if not, it's still awkward, mostly because Scott is still getting used to all this. He'll throw a potato chip at Julian for the 'baby' comment, however.

Otherwise, he's just sitting on the couch and not sharing his bag of said chips. Although he might with Sophie since she brought them out in the first place.]

So, what, we should all find a weapon to get good at?

[redvisor]

I was thinking more self-defense really. You end up in a situation with no powers and need to fend for yourself? Comes in handy to know. Even if it's just to get yourself away.

( they've all been there at some point, haven't they? having to deal with people — mob or otherwise — wanting them dead. maybe his younger counterpart hasn't yet. he's lucky there. )

[sophielicious]

... Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and skip half of this boring shit to go straight to the elephant in the room. We've done a billion 'we need to be better to survive' meetings, that has been drilled already. What I wanna address is —

(She's going to point at Older Scott for a second here.)

Are you going to go "I'm the Leader" on us?

(Some of us are just shit stirrers by nature. Sorry.)

[redvisor]

( it's a fair question to ask and he drops his arms down at his sides. not so rigid, summers. )

Look. I'm not going to pretend I'm the Cyclops any of you know or have dealt with in whatever ways those are. But as long as we're all here together, I just want to make sure everyone is kept safe and can handle whatever gets thrown at us.

[vexant]

He isn't. ( but julian at least waits for scott to finish talking before he speaks up, slouching back against the wall he's resting against. )

But neither am I.

( thanks, quire, for the stupidly awkward talk earlier that made julian have to come to terms with some crap real fast. )

A leader's someone who can keep a cool head in the field. Who knows their team's strengths and weaknesses like the back of their hands and knows how to play to them. And right now? I don't think we have that. At least not from anyone who wants to stick their hand up. I figure we've got several weeks before whatever comes next, we should figure that out as a team.

[querulus]

Geez, you guys got started without me? That's pretty rude.

[Nevermind the fact that Quentin is "fashionably late". And he brought his own snacks, obviously, except for a bag of Cheetos he tosses at mini-Slim. Because he's the favorite.]

What'd I miss? Aside from the fact that you're all no fun.

[laserguy]

[Scott just looks between... everyone and well, okay. He doesn't think Julian made a bad suggestion, necessarily, it's just that he has to open his mouth now... while also catching that bag of cheetos from Quentin. Okay, maybe he's his other favorite too.]

Who is leading the X-Men, I guess. And we're figuring that out just by trial and error in the next few weeks. And then voting?? Great.

[Does he vote himself out to start with? Is that an option? Not that he doesn't want to be a leader at some point, it'd just feel extremely weird with this group-- with his older alternative self literally standing right there. Also he kind of feels like a huge asshole about making a big deal about not being the 'Scott Summers everyone wants' when older!Scott just accepted that without blinking an eye.

Or maybe he's better at hiding it.]

[sophielicious]

Funny. I'll believe it when I see it, and trust me, it's an earning thing.

(She's not fond of authority, anyway. At least one person here knows how much she loves to flip it off. If she thinks she's needed or that she's doing the right thing, screw everything and everyone else. Telling her what to do is pointless when she doesn't want to hear it, and as of the new series 'Sophie Cuckoo, One-in-One' airs, she listens even less.

Not to mention, this is kind of entertaining. Let her poke a little more.)

Wait, rewind, way more interesting points are being brought up! There are three of us mutants from the mutant nightmare world, Jules, so, 'anyone who wants to stick their hand up'? Who do you think should lead? Me or Quire? Just, you know, for transparency purposes.

[querulus]

Yeah, like I said. No fun.

[He plops down on the couch next to younger Scott.]

Who's the leader, power of friendship, no I in Team, blah blah blah. We've only got three of us with any combat experience, and the two that don't are redundant. Which means Slim Jr. here and Prom Queen are understudies. As for who's leader? Neither of you chucklefucks have tried to figure out what I do yet, soooo.

[Quentin shrugs and leans against the arm of the couch nonchalantly, as if everything he said is perfectly self-explanatory.]

[redvisor]

This isn’t about who gets to play leader. This is about finding a way to work together as a team and keep each other safe and alive here and on any missions we might end up on together.

( or at least that’s what he figured this get together was going to be about. )

I’m open to hearing any ideas or suggestions here unless you’d all just rather wing it.

[sophielicious]

Oh, shut up, you don't know my life. For all we know, maybe I got more shit going on than mister party pooper over there, and also, last I checked? I'm literally the only one who is, oh, man, what was it again, impervious to damage? Redundant, my ass.

(Didn't Quentin literally post a list of what he does online? Just saying. Also, she's not mad or actually offended, she just sounds like she is, recreationally.)

Oh, but it totally is about who gets to play leader if Julian throws in the towel. My idea and suggestion is that we deal with that.

[vexant]

I didn't say I was throwing in the towel. I said we should rethink how we're handling crap especially given how things've gone lately.

( so less handing in the towel, more leaving it open so they can figure shit out without it just being a case of, he said so and therefore it is. )

Quire's a loudmouth who can't stop starting shit with everything and everyone but outside of how fucked he is in the head, he's the strongest we've got unless Aurora fucks with our abilities again. Because he's a twig who'll snap the moment anything dangerous takes a swipe at him. ( well. maybe not that bad, but julian's sticking with it. ) Sophie's a strong telepath and the only one here who has the ability to shield the rest of us if our telekinesis and telepathy ends up not being good enough, but Quire's not wrong with the rest of it. Outside of being able to shift into literal diamond - anything she can do, Quire or I can do better.

( with a jerk of his head towards the older scott summers, firstly. )

Then there's Eyebeams. Times two. Both of which seem to have a lot less experience with fucked up crap than the rest of us do, but at least they're also less irritating than Cyclops is back home, so. We're all different levels of useless, we're all redundant to an extent, and if we don't figure our crap out, I can't imagine this'll go any better than it did when the Fog rolled in and I disappeared.

[laserguy]

[He doesn't really have much to add to any of this conversation and a small part of his stupid teenage brain wonders if his input would even matter. They've could just send him a telepathic message or regular ass message about the new official leader or whatever, but also, it is nice to be sort of involved even if he's just sitting here and eating chips. What, he can have complicated feelings about literally every single thing.

Seems like everyone else in the room is.

He just slumps against the couch, before tossing another chip in his mouth.]

Isn't a leader supposed to inspire everyone else? None of you guys are that. [...] But whatever, can't you guys just do a bunch of Danger Room sessions or whatever and see who everyone is most comfortable with?