"But I wanna go to the museeeuuum!" Came the plaintive whine. "They have diiiinosaaaurs!!"
"Well...sorry about that you guys." Lorna announced, getting back into the van after checking at the door. "Everythings well and truly closed up, looks like we'll have to reschedule sometime, yeah?" She glanced back at her class for the day as she shut the door and started up the van.
"Yeah...I want to see the dinosaurs too."
"An' dead thiiiings."
"Does that mean we have boring theory work to do when we get back to school?"
"I'm glad your opinion of my class is so high. Maybe I'll call Bob back just so you don't have to do theory." Lorna smirked slightly. "No, I suppose we just take a bit of a ride. We can do siteseeing out here just as easily as in there...just less dinosaurs and dead things." Hopefully.
"Oh, please say it isn't so!"
"Oh God! Anything but that!" Greer covered her face at the mere thought.
Adam poked the window with a gloved finger, pouting. "But dinosaurs, Ms Drake. Dinosaurs. Hey, maybe we can go to an old people's home and talk to them about dinosaurs?"
Scott scratched his head and looked around. "We could go and look at Lady Liberty?"
"Liberty sucks. Viva la slavery!"
"I don't really want to get kicked out of a retirement home just yet. I might have to be there one day and I'd rather not have a record...and sure, that's worth something. Been in New York how long and I've never actually went." She punched that into the gps and hoped to God she didn't fry the thing next time she got frustrated in traffic.
Eddie squirmed in his seat, hood still down. He'd taken to wearing hoods now, thinking that, not only did it assist his withdrawal from the world, but it looked hella cool. "Maybe we could.....just go to a comic book store?", 'ever interesting Eddie', he grinned.
Greer wrinkled her nose, "Because we can't do that any other day of the week...."
"If things keep closing up like this you might not be able to. Closed due to public health concerns seems to be cropping up a lot."
Adam looked at Eddie, about to say something, then shook his head and stuck to staring out of the window. Try, Adam. "It's the plaaague. Of deeeath."
".... Not funny, Adam." Greer slouched in her seat.
He glanced at Eddie again, then flicked a neon blue cyberdread out of his face. "Like you, then."
"Hey, who wants to take a picture with me ACTUALLY leaning on the statue, instead of making one of those mock-ups you always see?"
"...don't tempt me?" Lorna did want that but she could just imagine helicopters swarming in shortly after.
"Scottzilla!"
"Has anyone died of this? They're keeping things like that pretty damned hush-hush. Anyone hear?"
Eddie glanced at Adam foe a moment, feeling his look but not returning it. Angelo was acting strange that week, too, ever since this 'plague' outbreak. He looked out the window at the sound of helicopters. "Ooh, an airshow?"
Scott made his best Godzilla-shriek impression. "Eeeeeeerrrrr!"
"I've been trying to avoid it, I already have enough health crap to worry about.... and Scott I would totally help you with that."
"You need more fire. I have matches, shall we set something on fire? Wait, didn't that help London during the Black Plague?"
Eddie gave Scott a blank look. "R-right....that did the King of Monsters no justice..."
"EEEEERRRRRRRR!" Lorna joined in. "You know what, screw it, who wants to hit a drive-through before our grand tour?"
"Fire. Bad." Greer said as clearly as she could to Adam.
"I could totally do a public service by setting New York on fire. In fact, that might be the best damn thing to happen to New York!" Adam bounced slightly.
"No burning down New York. We have to live here."
"Food sounds good..." and maybe it'd distract from the talk of fire.
"Wait until you hear that sound coming out of lungs the size of a pontiac, Ed." He winked at the boy. "I can't manage fire, though."
"Burn down some place nobody wants to live. Hell, burn down Sealand, that way you can say you got a whole nation."
Adam gave Greer a flat look, before taking off his glove and showing the badly-scarred skin of his hands. "I. Know." He said just as slowly and clearly back.
"Well, as far as helicopters and plagues are concerned I doubt many people will be...", Eddie mentioned to Lorna. "Seriously, what's going on out there?"
He pulled it back on, before looking at Eddie and suddenly appearing in the seat next to him. "Hai!"
Eddie jumped a little at Adam's crippling enthusiasm, usually held by himself. "Uhm...why, Adam? Why do that?", he asked, though moreso stated.
Greer scowled, why the hell suggest fire if he was going act like that?
"Beyond creepy tentacle people cropping up and spouting black ink all over the place? I've no frigging id- oh hell no, they did not just seal off Whitecastle!" Lorna almost did let the gps get fried when she saw the drive-in lane taped off with more CDC tape.
"Drive thru! I want a triple many milkshake with sprinkles!" He flicked his too-blue eyes back to Eddie. "You're being emo again. Quit it. Or Imma have to do something to make you smile."
Greer leaned to look out of the window, "Damn... is there another one?"
"I think we should walk there. I can carry all of you?"
"Well, call out if you see anything." Lorna went a bit down the road again. Sonic wasn't taped up but it was clear nobody was in there working, same with Ruby Tuesdays, same with the sort of creepy kebab place she frequented on teacher in-service drunk days. "Well, this might be harder than I thought."
Eddie grinned a little at Adam. "Ye-eah, maybe....it's just...", Eddie paused, what was he going to say? The voice in his head sounded like it was calling out to others? People were turning out to have powers similar to his? Angelo wasn't around for some weird reason? "....feeling a little sick, man."
"Go home and feign take out by undercooking something?" Greer suggested.
"Cooking sort of defeats the purpose, plus we're still going to look around." There would at least be some people out today.
"Oooh. Well, I totally have an awesome little hideout if you just wanna come down and kill some Halo with me. There's drink. And food. But no roofies. JP can tell you there's no roofies."
"..." Nope, Lorna was not going to ask. "Well, I'm glad there aren't any."
He looked out of the window as they passed a comic book shop - obviously closed. "...Hey...Lorna? Isn't there meant to be like...well...traffic...?"
"Am I the only one who feels like this is the start of a zombie apocalypse movie?," Scott asked while looking at the deserted streets.
".... Not anymore...."
"Nah. Prototype. Totally. Everyone gets ice cream on me if we spot Alex Mercer!"
Greer was starting to regret her decision to read the walking dead graphic novels reccomended to her by friends at work. She shifted closer to Scott.
Just for the hell of it - and because Eddie seemed kinda...out of it - he leant in and licked his cheek. "Smile, man." He murmured quietly.
Wade rose from the back like a vampire. "Actually I think we should be getting shotguns and baseball bats ready just in case a zombie outbreak breaks out."
"Well...normally, yeah." She admitted as she pulled onto an even more empty street in search for her favourite Steak and Shake with the guy at the drive-in with the Flock of Seagulls hair.
Eddie just thought harder and harder, trying to drown out the noise. It was like something was 'calling' him. Then he suddenly jumped as Waee appeared. "Oh, for Gods' sake....", he sighed. He'd forgotten they'd taken him.
"...My tongue's that bad?"
"Well, I guess if the zombie apocalypse comes we're covered well enough powers-wise, yeah?"
He patted Greer. "S'okay, hun. I'll look out for you." He smiled
"If they're as described, I reckon it'll be a little more difficult than 'shamblers'", Eddie said, mainly to Lorna.
"Well, I am, not sure about you lot, I don't think a zombie bite would do much for me. Then again, zombies are the walking dead... I wonder, if my body regenerates.... will my head be able to go on when you decapitate me? If not, just let a zombie bite my head. I gotta see how that'll work out."
"Yeah...I'll just have to make sure to put a bottom to my bubble so they can't leak in."
Greer gave Scott a grateful smile, "If there are zombies... run like hell."
The bubble was like a safe hug.
"I'll be the first one to stomp out the zombie plague!"
"What if they bite your toes? Maybe you'll get zombie athlete's foot."
"If there are any zombies, I am totally going to blow them all up. Just sayin'. But there aren't. Just us." He looked at the empty road. "Seriously...just us. We could totally turn this city into one big playground if this keeps up."
"Sure there aren't zombies now. Make enough noise and they'll come running...."
Eddie gave a concerned glance to Wade. Although he had wondered that himself. "Uhm.....ye-eah, you try that. Think I'll just keep my head attatched where possible."
"No, my precious precious toes!" He mock-hid his feet in between his hands.
"Yes, keep them secret, keep them safe." Lorna pulled into the Steak and Shake only to see the closed sign and mutter under her breath. "Do the infected masses just not eat?"
"Only your braaaaains, Ms Drake."
"Damn, I walked right into that one."
"I guess not?" Greer chewed her lip, "I'm gonna say again that I think I want to go home now..."
"Well, they eat brains, but those are available pretty much anywhere."
Just because, Adam licked Eddie again. "...Tastes like emo."
"Don't put that in your mouth, you don't know where it's been."
"We didn't come all this way to just look at the closed signs now." She tsked back at her students, finally pulling into a Winsteads. "Right, shakes it is. Gimme your orders and we'll get his city-wide art tour underway."
"We should find a supermarket then, they have lots of braaaannnn."
Adam actually blushed. Hard.
"Braaaaaan. Does it come in flakes?"
"Many shake!" He grinned. "Bananananana. With chocolate sprinkles an' cream."
Eddie stopped himself caring that Adam was being so sexual and awkward; better than their first couple of encounters, and deffinately not the worst thing that could happen. "Uh, Adam, I have to ask, could you.....not do that at the moment?", he smirked shyly.
"Something with... chocolate...." Greer curled up on her seat.
"Any other moment, just not this moment.", he smiled.
"Strawberry!"
"Make mine caramel and chocolate. With syrup on top, with sprinkles." Wade added.
Adam shrugged. "You can ask, I might listen. I might even stop. You never know..." He wiggled his fingers at him before giggling.
"Oh for goodness sakes, you two, there's a restroom in there somewhere, you have five minutes, make it count. And use protection, you don't know what zombie virus you might pic up."
"Typical....", Eddie smirked. Strange, Adam's new persona was comforting, and it was working, too. Eddie looked out the window again. What was it out there, anyway?
"No molestation in the school van, please." Lorna wished that the ordering intercom hadn't clicked on for the girl inside to hear that. "Um...yeah," Lorna started listing off the orders sheepishly."
"But Loooorna, this van stinks of it!" He said loud enough for the girl on the intercom to hear.
"GOD DAMN IT Heather! Stop touching your brother there! Arnold! Pull your pants back up, or so help me I'll get out the belt again and this time I won't leave any marks for child services to find!" Wade yelled towards the intercom.
"Sorry, I had beans on toast earlier..."
"True...next time I need to punish someone I should totally have them clean the dirty, kinky sexvan."
Greer face-palmed. Children. She was in a van full of children.
"My seat's sticky." And he totally wasn't blushing. Nope.
Eddie broke into laughter at Wade's sudden outburst. "Nothing for me, either, Lorna!", he managed over waves of laughter.
He poked Greer and stuck his tongue out at her with a cheeky grin.
Wade looked at Adam. "I came."
"See? That's better." Adam smiled at Eddie. "Seriously dude...I don't get to see you much any more. Come down mine and play some XBox. Please?"
"...Oh man, Wade, eeew!! Tissue next time!"
"Are you poking your tongue out at me?" Greer raised an eyebrow at Scott.
Eddie sighed. "Alright! Alright, Adam. I will.", he patted Adam on the head. "I promise, ok?"
"Better. Or there will be roofies. Mark my words..."
"I do believe I am, Miss."
"Tease." she grinned.
"That would be me, yep." He winked.
Greer giggled, "You're a lot more fun than I remember you being... when did that happen?"
Eddie blinked a little, suddenly feeling a little.... "I feel a little off center.", the words seemed to say themselves. "Adam, can you just....can I just sleep a second?", he had no idea why he wanted to.
Adam blinked at Eddie. "...Uh...sure? Why are you asking me for permission? Sleep if you wanna."
"Left the pneguin at home. He's a bore."
Eddie pulled his hood down and was out like a light.
She laughed, "Good, that homicidal little bastard creeps me out.... which you can't blame me for because he appeared in my closet that one time and attacked me."
Mmm, shaaake. "Penguin would have enjoyed the shake anyway." Lorna hummed to herself, passing out the other orders as she started pulling out, getting the stink eye from the girl at the window. "Hmm, think my hair's getting the eye from someone there."
"Speaking of the penguin, mind if I ask him out for a night, I think we really hit it off the other day and I want to see how far things might go." Wade asked Scott
Adam poked him a couple of times, before shrugging and lying back on him, taking his shake.
Greer accepted the shake, "Just tell them it's dyed?"
He grabbed his shake and started to suck on it. "That sounds REALLY gay, Wade."
"Arm hair, people definitely check for it and I think that sounds more bestial than gay but I suppose that's just a bonus."
"I hope so, I was saving myself for him." Wade added when he grabbed his milkshake
"So's your shake."
"I think it was meant to..." Greer sniffed at her shake before sucking on her straw.
"Saving yourself? Damn, my gossip is off."
"It's not... he lies... or maybe he just means he wasn't seeing other penguins...."
Adam eyed up his shake before taking a tiny sip, waiting for the explosion of flavour to subside and taking another. "Eh, they're just jealous they can't cause widespread havoc like we can." He murmured, fingering the tip of a pointed ear.
Greer was glad for the ability to look completely human at times like this.
"You need to get out and meet other people, Wadey."
"No he doesn't. He just needs a better barber."
"But I have seen this adorable yellow bear with a red shirt. We had to break it up, he was seeing a tiger on the side. It was a mutaul break up, we're still friends."
"Considering things...I don't think we want to be at fault for this havoc." Lorna sighed, heading onto the main road. "Hey, finally, buses! We're not so lonely after all."
".... I... Wade... You know what... I'm just going to assume the answer's yes..."
"Buses?" Adam was suddenly up front with Lorna. "Ooooh. Is there some kinda of sporting thing on?"
In the back of the van, Doug was starting to wake up. He tended to fall asleep on road trips. He bit down on a yawn and tried to figure out what was going on and where they were. "Are we there yet?" It was force of habit to ask.
"Yes and no... we got there, it was closed... now we're not there."
"I don't know, does your ass hurt?"
"I don't know, maybe that's part of the lessened crowd. Maybe not everyone's running from inky tentacle." She started laughing. "No, Doug, good morning though. The museum was closed for health."
He rubbed his eyes and frowned. Closed for health? Aw man... "Does not sound good."
"Maybe the busses are filled with zombies?"
"Nope... but we have milkshakes so... yay?" She looked round at Doug and offered him a sip of hers.
"Well, a lot of things are now." She pointed at the coffee shop they were passing. "Oh God, nobody wants to board the tentacle bus."
"Yeah, tell me about it, means no dinosaurs." Adam pouted. "And that would be cool. New York seems to be a popular destination for the living dead."
"Maybe they have their own holiday package now?"
"Free flights to Japan?" Lorna asked, pulling up to the buses. "...there's a whole lot of adults on those school buses." She pointed out the window, seeing people of all ages getting inside the buses with bits and pieces of luggage being stowed as well.
Doug took a sip of her milkshake, even though part of him was screaming about sharing germs. But he was also thirsty and hungry and a milkshake was the best of both worlds. Waking up in the middle of one of their conversations was worse than waking up in the middle of a movie. Of course, even when he was awake for one of their conversations he tended to stay lost. Ah well. Milkshake!
"...Adult learners?" He hazarded. "No happy smells though...must be a booooring class."
"You're never too old to learn, Lorna."
"I don't generally pack a suitcase for class."
"Maybe they're going out of town?"
"That's the special bus."
Greer smiled at Doug then turned to look out of the window again, "There sure are a lot of buses...."
Wade kept quiet as he loudly sucked on his straw.
She turned the corner, half-gawking at the buses behind them only to turn her head properly and see a line of buses practically as far as she could see.
"...Holy Jesus on a shitstick, that's a lot of buses..."
"Did we miss a memo....?"
Doug frowned. "Maybe its an evacuation." He shook his head.
"Um...maybe." She clicked on the radio, clicking through for local news.
Adam slid out a blade, moving into the front seat and sitting down, chewing on the point. "But why? All it is is a superflu..."
"Well...it is only in New York."
She looked at Doug again, "If that was the case we'd know about it, surely? It'd be on the news or something... stuff in the mail?"
"We're Jo-Jos, remember? No one cares if Jo-Jos survive."
"How many people died because of this superflu again?" sucksucksucksucksuck
Adam remembered back to the con and the thing in the sewer. "...You know, maybe getting out of here's not such a bad idea." He glanced back to the still-sleeping Eddie nervously. Oh god, he'd licked him. He was going to tentacle-blargh!
Doug frowned. "Depends on how the news is spread and whether it is an 'official' evacuation or just for a certain group. Might be quarantine?"
"Wait," Lorna turned up the radio, waving for them to quiet down as she had found something "-luntary evacuations are currently in progress for all five burroughs of New York. No word yet on when suburban areas will start to follow suit with this evacuation or if they will do so at all."
"sounds bad."
Adam tilted his head at the radio, still chewing his blade. "Sounds like panic-mongering."
Greer chewed her lip, "I wanna go home now...."
"It remains likely that will be the case, however." The radio reporter cleared her throat. "It has not yet been released what has caused this epidemic and why it has not had any significant outbreaks anywhere outside of New York City. Many organizations such as the CDC, the FDC and the Friends of Humanity have spoken out about likely causes."
Doug kept his mouth shut about statistics. Inside, yeah he was panicking. But he kept his mouth shut at least, this time.
sucksucksucksuck "If she wants to go hime, then I wanna go to disney land." sucksucksucksucksucksuck
"...Oh god, I wonder who they're going to blame..."
"Birds and pigs. The damned things did it before. they can another flu again."
*can cause
"Friends of humanity? Guess." she scowled, sinking lower in her seat.
"Some suspicions face a yet undisclosed laborotory located in Queens as there were reports of an incident involving an escaped specimen though there have been no further reports as to the nature of what had escaped and if it had been recovered."
"See? Lab-made superflu. Toooold you."
sucksucksucksuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. *burp* "All done. Movie next?"
"Oh, you think we have an "Outbreak" monkey running around?"
Adam remembered he had a milkshake still. Taking tiny sips, he wrinkled his nose. "Leper monkey..." He said ominously.
"Escaped specimen sounds like it moved on its own, do you remember a certain tentacle monster saying it escaped?" Doug groaned. "I think we met the outbreak monkey."
"God only knows." Lorna muttered, gripping the wheel before pulling a u-turn to get around. Class was just going to have to be cancelled in favour of returning to the school.
"But moooom I wanna see the leper monkeys!!"
"Nah, can't be Mr Goo, he suffocated me and I feel fine. You know why? Because I take my vitamins!"
"We going back home, Lorna?"
"Do we know the mode of transmission?" Doug asked. "I mean.. um, did the smart guys in the lab figure it out yet?"
"It's an STD, dude. You're fine."
"Mmm, sugar treated donuts."
Adam looked behind him to Wade, eyeballing him. "...Yeah. That. You're weird."
"Yes, we're going back home." She nodded, sucking harder on her straw. "Nothing's been released about that...and I doubt seriously that's an STD."
"Well...you know...tentacles..."
"Yeah...tentacles."
Adam shared a look with Lorna. "...I need to stop watching Japanese flicks at three am, don't I?"
"But I imagine they've heard about this back at the school as well...we're probably going to have to decide what to do when it becomes our turn."
"Yes, yes you do."
Doug just continued to stare. How did he end up with these people again? Oh yeah... tentacle monsters. Not that it helped him figure out what was he still doing with these people somedays.
Greer sighed and leaned against Scott, "They're not going to evacuate a bunch of mutants... they'll leave us to rot..."
Adam muttered something in Irish under his breath, sinking in his seat. "But Akira's getting old. I can quote it in the original Japanese. And I don't want to be evacuated. Where would I go?"
He hugged Greer and looked out of the window in silence.
"They still don't know the school is just mutants...but registration cards proving it will be tricky." She bit her lip. "I mean, we as a school will have to decide something probably."
"God knows, maybe after the evacuations they'll try to quarantine the whole city at this rate."
"We're in the middle of nowhere though. We're safe, right?"
"I have a legit registration card saying I'm human..." Greer decided to just toss that one out there.
"We don't know how it spreads. And yeah, a lot of us have those, not everyone though."
"What about flying ourselves out? I mean... what's the point having a jet if we don't use it to save our own asses?"
"That's nice. You can go mingle with the commoners then." Adam chewed his straw, frowning a little. "I'm all for staying, if I'm honest. Just stop going into the city."
"As I said, we're going to have to figure it out. It all depends on if it's actually the best idea to leave or not." She looked to the students behind her. "Might come down to a vote when everything's said and done. We'd probably fly anyone back home that wants to but that goes for anytime...as long as they don't close up the airspace."
Adam looked out of the window. "...What about the ones who don't have any home to go to, Mrs Drake?" He said quietly.
"I can't go home..." she frowned, "But I can at least survive out in the wild... assuming the stuff I'd be eating doesn't get sick with whatever this is... there's nothing about it jumping the species boundary yet, right?"
Lorna kept her mouth shut but she thought to herself that as close as they were to the city it might not make that big of a difference. That remained to be seen though. "We stay open."
Doug bit his lip. "My parents actually live in the area." He pointed out quietly. "But it seems we can't really make any decisions at the moment. Regardless." He was thoughtful about it all, looking out the window. He didn't want to leave anyone by themselves, alone, or whatever. He was all for musketeering it.
Adam watched as the empty streets and closed shops went past, feeling throughally miserable. He didn't have anywhere to go, much as he'd love to go back to Ireland...
She sighed, speeding along a bit faster as there wasn't really anyone to stop her. "It'll just be something we all have to decide for ourselves. Hell, maybe that place we sent Terry'd be a good place for people not wanting to stay."
"Really? Where's that?"
"I forget the name. Andreas, you all didn't meet him, he was rich as J. K. and his family had an island, Gen something."
"Genosha! That was it, but yeah, no idea where it even is. I wasn't part of that trip."
"Nice... how are we only hearing about this now?"
Adam scratched his chin. "Maybe we could shore up there until this blows over - if it's as bad as they reckon it is."
"It's not a secret, Andreas just isn't around anymore. I don't generally talk about islands someone else owns."
"Well yeah. It's their property and all." Adam sipped at his rapidly melting milkshake. "...I still say we turn New York into a playground, though."
"...that would be fun." Lorna's serious voice dropped off completely at the idea of that.
Greer frowned a little, why couldn't they just go home where it was safe and hide until all of this was over?
"Yeah - I mean, you could totally use metal to make one huge slide, right? And there's all these buildings to climb and things...could use it in an art class, some kind of sculpture!" Adam bounced a little, mood picking back up again. "All work and no play or something."
"Well, they're not evacuating Westchester today...though they did say something about suburbs, didn't they?"
"Oh I just bet mom's been calling my phone." Doug realized. He left it at school. He groaned. "She's going to be frantic."
"In any case, it's not today. We'll have time to figure everything out hopefully." She started up the drive to the school, relaxing just being away from the buses and everything. She held out her phone to Doug. "Feel free, any of you."
"No that's... okay." Doug winced. "I'll... er... talk to her in private." So that the others wouldn't hear his mom be all... mommy like and embarrassing.
"Yeah...I know. And I haven't got anyone to phone. Ireland is a long way away and since they chucked me out of the foster system I haven't heard from them." He shrugged. "Hey, we could always go set up base in Ireland. Nobody cares about mutants in Galway."
"Really? I figured that one screamy guy we used to have would have set Ireland completely against us."
"Eh? Screamy guy - oh. I saw him on the news. He got lyyyynched."
"Pfft. My parents wouldn't give a crap if they knew I had the tentacle flu. They'd say I deserved it."
Adam snickered. "I mean, come on. An Irish guy with a band called Rifles of the IRA? I heard one of his concerts didn't sell one ticket and their van got set on fire."
"Seriously?" Lorna arched an eyebrow at the lynching comment. That was...squicky but...wow. "Yeah, that kind of thing is why I think we had best keep things open. Not everyone has a place..."
Doug frowned. His parents didn't even know he was a mutant. "I kind of like the idea of one for all and all for one'ing it anyway." He said. "My parents can just go stay with my Aunt in Kansas." He pointed out. "I'll... uh stay with the rest of you." He nodded.
"But Southern Ireland's pretty okay. The only problems I got was with the nutcases in the foster system and the fact no one wanted a mutant orphan." He shrugged. "Didn't bother me." He looked back at Doug and smiled. "Nice sentiment."
"...Oh shit!" He sudden facepalmed. "I better give Kandi a call. Stupid zombieflu - I'm supposed to be DJing this weekend."
Lorna looked to Greer. "So, where would you go?" She parked the van, slumping in her seat and letting out a breath.
Greer shrugged, "I guess I'd go back to living in the woods..."
"Remind me to get the dip ready for when you get home. No ticks and parasites for me."
"..that doesn't sound particularly safe either."
"Antarctica!" Wade yelled out. "That's where I'd go!"
She frowned, adding, "Well... there are a couple of packs around that I could stay with... but that's not really my thing... didn't work out so well the last time..."
"Packs...of tigers?"
Doug made a small face. "There's no power outlets in the woods." His definition of hell right there.
Lorna was truly weirded ot now.
"Feral mutants," Greer elaborated, "They're all over the place... you just have to know where to look... and be a feral mutant or they generally get homicidal...."
"No tigers in these woods. Can't smell 'em. Or wolves. Or anything. Maybe rabid squirrels...?"
"Ever thought that maybe it's not a mutant human that's feral, but a mutant animal that's humanlike?"
Greer narrowed her eyes on Wade. "No."
"...still though...you're tiger shaped in America. That's got to be more than a bit conspicuous."
Adam's mind wandered off into a world where rabid squirrels populated the forests, building super-advanced society in the hopes that one day they would overthrow the human oppressors... "...Coooool..."
"No outlets." Doug just whispered to himself. Horrifying.
"Better than rabbit shaped... speaking of rabbits, is there any rabbit ferals hopping around? Because that is something I'd like to bring to the next playboy mansion party."
"Not really... there's all kinds of ferals out there... but Tigers are solitary mostly... and I like it that way... sometimes the company is okay... but they generally... want things..." she wrinkled her nose, "And that ends badly."
"So yeah, definitely not encouraging you to that one." Lorna winced as she got out of the van.
"Yeah..." she opened the door and climbed out too, "Been there, done that... got the scars..."
"...what do you all think is a fair way for this? Make a list of those who wish to find a secondary place? I guess we can have some sort of bulletin..." Lorna had no idea what she was trying to organize.
"Options. Lay them all out there... see what takes..."
"Well, I'd like to hear more options as well."
Adam blurred out of the van and trundled in little circles, PVC coat flaring slightly. "If I'm honest, I'm all for staying-" He stared as Eddie climbed out of the van and then promptly swung off into the distance. "...Bye Eddie...but yeah. I'm good to stay. Nowhere else to go and nowhere else I want to go."
"S'pose we could look into Genosha, or ask Dr Xavier to buy up a big house in Ireland or something...?"
"Well there's staying... there's going home... and there's finding somewhere else to go that is neither of those places..."
"Hey!" Adam clicked his fingers. "Lorna, what about Muir Island? That place is a hospital, right? I mean, I still have the memories."
Lorna wasn't sure that 'the woods' would be classified as home, perse. "Well, privately owned, Genosha would be an idea." She admitted slowly. "Even if we don't go there are still mutants in the area that would be interested. We need to rake up others because they will have trouble evacuating."
"Muir would be good as well, yes." She smiled to Adam. "We come up with enough places and we run missions through the city. We might us thave to evacuate our own."
"Yeah... maybe there's a mutant underground we can talk to about this... they could have their own ideas...."
"I more meant have a safe haven. There's Nova's school as well." Lorna remembered, chewing at the corner of her lip.
"Well, there's a lot of options. Even if not all of us - or them - like the same one, no harm in using some if not all, right?"
"Mmhmm. Options."
Doug was just listening and felt like he was in a twilight zone episode, really. But that wasn't unusual recently.
"Yes, Greer. Options."
"Am I still here? Geeze, I thought I was watching TV." Wade saidas he turned and started walking away.
"Bye Wade!" Lorna just waved, not understanding but not finding that too much to worry about.
Greer blinked at Wade, then reminded herself it was safer to ignore him.
"It might be helpful to get a list of everyone with families that would be willing to house anyone we find that needs evacuated as well, in case we can't get to Muir or Genosha."
Adam nodded. "Can't really help there but...I'm sure there's plenty of places, right?"
"Yeah you can rule me out of that list right away..." she shook her head, patting her pockets to find where she'd put her cell.
"Well, if you'd like to try the desert there's Reno on my end...I don't think my mother would be too willing so that lets Portland out."
"Aren't there some rich kids we can mooch off of?"
"Desert? Are there snakes? And cactuses?"
"I don't know everyone's family history so not sure who would be able to offer a place...I don't think Bobby's dad would be too happy about any houseguests...but his mother would definitely override him in this case so there's St. Louis."
"Heh, you know mine. I have no family." Adam kicked the ground, trying to think as he gnawed on his straw. "What about Canada?"
"Ew... I'd rather stay here... Canadians are weird... just look at JP...."
"I dunno, JP's fine with me." adam gave a toothy grin.
"Uh huh, because you want in his pants."
"Uh huh, because I've already got in there."
"... You kinda just proved my point. You're biased."
"I don't want in his pants, and I found him nice?" Doug offered quietly, hand half raised.
"...Oh wait, was I supposed to be offended by that?" Adam simply leered, an odd look for him. "Yeahuh. He rubs me the right way, what can I say? Just means I have taste."
"He is nice. Just a little forward." Adam nodded at Doug.
"Well...I've learned too much about student sex-lives yet again." Lorna pulled a face. "Might be a possibility though, don't know him well enough either."
"No nuns."
"He's Canadian. That's all you need."
"You're American (no offence to the rest). That's all I need."
((Heee!))
"No Adam, you just don't like me. Be honest."
"Canadians generally have a very good reputation in the world." Doug was so confused as to what the issue was here.
"Nope, I don't. There you go." Adam grinned sweetly. "Anyway, our love life isn't at issue here, Greer." He turned back to Lorna, ignoring her. "So...lots of options?"
Greer scowled at Adam, reminding herself that she was off the shapshifting for the hundreth time. Temper temper.
"Children, don't make me get the hose."
Adam simply grinned. "My PVC will shrink. So okay...Genosha, Ireland, Canada, desert or stick it out, right?"
He looked at Doug. "You sure you're alright with sticking with us? I mean...we're a bit weird and you're kinda quiet, but it's cool you wanna stay."
"That sounds kinky, I'm not helping you with any PVC shrinkage."
He nodded. "Yeah. I don't leave friends behind." He said. "Even if I'm scared as hell."
"Thanks, I got a queue for that anyway. Oh god, I sound like JP." He turned back to Doug and smiled. "Epic. Being scared's usual. I've got drugs, I'm so scared."
"...That could have come out a lot better..."
Lorna smiled, feeling suddenly nostalgic for her own freshman year. "You're a good kid, Doug...and please, no more drug peddling, I think we had enough of that last year?"
Greer looked decidedly shifty there.
Adam snorted. "I do not have enough to go around. Hank keeps real careful tabs on how much I have because of my record." He grinned. "Besides...I need those drugs. You think I'm insane now."
"Oh, you're fine." Lorna assured Adam, patting his shoulder. "Just no sharsies or Hank won't share his twinkies."
Doug smiled. "I don't do drugs anyway." He shook his head.
Greer chewed her lip, keeping quiet.
Adam barely flinched at the touch - he was getting waaaay better, and JP had certainly helped - and grinned at Lorna. "The doctor and I have already talked about that. I can't eat twinkies, so when I'm down there for him to check on I'm on twinkie duty. And I like my drugs. I tried the whole not-taking-them and...that didn't turn out so good..."
Lorna offered Adam a fist-bump for that. "Respect knuckles...and you'll give me a twinkie, right?"
"Hell yes." She got the fist-bump back. Hey, she had green hair and hadn't laughed at his foil-fort. "You're my favourite teacher."
"Even if I make you paint random naked men?" She asked, holding the door open for them all.
Greer slipped inside, debating the options of food or a safe place to hide.
Adam shrugged. "Ms Drake, I'd've thought with the earlier discussion you'd have worked out I got over that particular milestone." He grinned. "...But not Bob. Never Bob. People shouldn't sag like that."
"Besides, Lorna. Chainsaws."
"Chainsaws...and Bob. I could make you all do Leatherface. Maybe it'll get you all prepared for the zombie apocalypse."
"...You can have all the Twinkies if you do that."
"I'm reading the Walking Dead graphic novels... I think I'm about as prepared for the zombie apocalypse as I can get..."
"Zombieland taught me cardio is important so don't you think you're getting out of any DR training." She waggled her finger all around.
Adam made his way into the school, finally putting his half-finished milkshake down. "...Now, if anyone wants me, I'm going to go and load up Prototype in to the DR if Danger lets me and I'm going to kill me some zombiiiiiez." He stretched, the PVC creaking. "Hah, you and I are of the same mind, sensei. Wanna join?"
"I don't need a DR workout - I chase rabbits every day..."
"Scary critters, rabbits. Big sharp pointy teeth."
"Yeah... and they're fast...."
"Doesn't matter if you chase wildebeests on the Serengeti, training is always good." She grinned. "Anyway, we're more creative than a rabbit and I'll be down for Prototype in a bit...going to organize things." She bit her lip again, worrying it as she thought about their possible course of action.
"Okay. Well, you know where it is, I'll book it for a couple of hours. Later all." The last words had an odd doppler affect as he blurred off. Was he catching sanity? God, he was catching sanity. This place was bad for him. He was settling down. Crap.
"Yeah whatever... my point was that I'm not unfit..." she frowned a little.
"I'll be back in a bit. Going to call mom and get her calm. Talk her into going to Auntie's house, and then well... I'm around." He promised. He bit his lip as he made his way back to his shared room.
"Nobody said you were, still, training is good and sort of a part of your PE unless Bobby's changed it." Lorna shrugged. "If you have any other suggestions stop by the costume room." She gave up on ever refering to it as her office.
