1963-11-26 - No More and Never Again
Summary: In which Lynette is recruited into the Brotherhood
Related: None
Theme Song: None
raven josh lynette cain 


Perhaps it was shock. Maybe it was stress. Whatever it was, the room had been left behind and vacant by the pale faced woman with a dot over her eye, and the 'ragin' cajun', some time ago. All that was left now was a scrawny, colored girl, with her limb resting out on the arm of a sofa, fresh with the aroma of blood and some quick stitching to close her wound. Her head was back and to the side, eyes shut, and breathing steady. The girl was out cold.

*

Complete with yellow hoodie and red scarf, Josh returns to the safehouse with dinner. And what is dinner? A giant bucket of KFC chicken, and tubs of coleslaw. It's perhaps not the healthiest thing in the world, but when you have a live-in healer, really, who cares? As long as you get the vitamins and calories, Josh can handle things.

That said, he blinks when he sees the obviously wounded stranger, and goes over to deposit food on the table before heading over to her side. He reaches out to lay his knuckles against her forehead and read her health in detail, trying not to wake her up, but perhaps not doing so good at that.

*

Lynette takes a deep breath as those trade-mark, eleven herbs and spices, comes into the room. She doesn't move, at least not yet, but the press against her brow causes her to stir ever so slightly, and a moan pass her lips. Her eyes lids flutter before opening and taking in that blurry view of the world. Turning her head, she focuses on the man standing over her, and with a squint, her vision soon clears. "'m I dead?" The Creole murmurs, and then comes her follow up. "Dey got chick'n in heav'n?"

Her health is so-so. The girl could stand to eat more, and has a level of fatigue that comes from pushing one's self to their limits more than they probably should. The wound is deep, but clean enough, and doesn't suffer from any toxicity. It's fresh, only a few hours old, but from the stained, slashed sweater beside her, it's apparent that she's lost a good amount of blood.

*

"Hold still." Josh closes his eyes a moment and keeps contact with her head. Two things happen simultaneously. The first and most obvious is that his skin turns gold. Not orange, but gold, with an almost metallic tint to it, only his skin feels warm and completely normal. Secondly, the wound… feels itchy for a moment, and then a moment later the pain vanishes as it heals completely and her blood volume returns to normal levels. Josh lets his hand fall away then and frowns a bit at the stranger, "I don't know you." says golden boy, "Who is it that brought you here?"

*

Her mouth parts in a yawn, and giving a nod, she sits where she is as if that hole in the couch was made for just her. The odd sensation rolls through her body, and the fingers on her opposite hand twitch with the desire to scratch that itch of healing skin. Then, just like that, it's all right with the world. There's the sign that she still suffers from some fatigue, but that ailment doesn't seem to be natural in cause, or affect.

Sitting up, she looks at the boy gone gold, and then to her arm. "T'anks…" Her voice is soft and lined with obvious surprise. "Hmm? Oh, m'sorry. M'name's Lynette. Domino n'Remy brought me up here afta we got int' a scuffle down de street dis mornin'." Digging into her back pocket, the girl flicks out a knife and starts cutting the stitches off, and working to remove them now that they were not needed. "Y'sure I ain't dead? I mean…pretty faced boys dat turn t'gold? Dat's a sign, right?"

*

"I'm Elixir." Josh gives a quick, golden grin, "And even if you were dead, I'd have healed you of that, too." It seems mentioning Domino and Remy count as a password as far as he's concerned. "You can also call me Josh if you like. But around here, Elixir is more usual." He turns and heads back to the chicken, tugging the bucket over and pulling out a drumstick. He bites into it with the savagery of a hungry teenager, even though he's by no means an actual teenager.

*

"Elixir?" The Creole questions, her knife still popping the needless stiches from her arm until each one get a tug and slips out smoothly. Closing her blade back into its handle, she slips it back into her pocket and then works her arm. Bending at the elbow, and out again, her fingers move and wiggle briefly. Finally, the girl gives an impressed 'huh'. Moving on the sofa, she sits on her knees, leaning on the couch's back and watching Josh directly.

"I don' get it. De name's I mean. M'guessin' dat Domino ain't her real name. N'earlier, she was callin' Remy Gambit. Dis…I dunno. All dese people I been meetin' lately got two names." Shrugging, she sits back on her heels and rubs at where her wound use to be. "C'n y'tell me where I am?"

*

"I'm Elixir— the cure for what ailes you. Elixir is like another word for potion, medicine. It's my mutant name, instead of the human name society forced on me. Josh was a doctor, a prodigy in a residency program with a focus on general surgery, then when they found out Josh was a mutant, they fired him, his family abandoned him, and I figure: the only thing that name has is medical school loans that it can't repay. Elixir, though, has friends who are like him." Josh grins, pulling out a chair and plopping down, continuing to gnaw on the chicken, "Elixir… Elixir is a powerful healer who helps recruit for the cause, and buys chicken sometimes. Help yourself."

*

"And someone refuses to let me pay for those medical loans, even though there is enough money within our grasp to shake a fist at." Says the blue woman. But from where? She was not in the hallway. Nor standing in the door way. She was not within the window in which she'd usually crawl through for no good reason at all other than to keep the muscles within her thighs -tight-.

She was on the ceiling. Tucked away in the corner. Her time in the Hellmouth afforded her with such oddities that she allowed herself to hang as she were. Blue. Red. Yellow. Colors of She. "Alo jen yon sel.." She says to Lynette, but remains unmoving.

*

Cain had been napping in the backroom - he doesn't actually need to sleep physically, but it's good for him mentally. Thinking all the time isn't good for anybody.

When he hears the chatter out in the main room, he grumbles a bit, his massive frame rising up until he makes his way to the door, ducking his head a bit to stick his head in, shirtless and built like a mack truck, "You mugs oughtta keep it down a little, let a man get his rest," he mutters.

*

The girl listens to the story, all of it, with a canting of her fluffy head. She parts her lips now and then, but whatever interjection she might have simply lacks voice. Finally, she chuckles, reaching over to accept the food offered to her, but freezing as another 'presence' is felt, then heard. Tensing, she shrinks a bit between her shoulders and looks, searching for its sorce. Finally, her eyes meet the mystic blue figure in her corner. Awestruck, and hand hovering over the colonel's own, the girl can only gawk before replying, "Alo, manke."

Then a mountain passes through a back door and into the main room. Eyes still wide like obsidian saucers, the girl can't help but to blink, blush and look down at her lap. She doesn't take the offering of food now, and moves, slowly, on the sofa, so that she can have some line of sight to all three people in the room. "S-sorry." She apologizes to Cain, all while pulling up her legs and hugging her knees loosely against her chest.

*

Glancing over to Raven, Josh— he's gold at the moment— waves his drumbstick and he grins at her, "I kind of want to just say 'fuck you' to the world and paying the loans seems like … I don't know. Accepting of my disenfranchisement. Its like saying its OK they kicked me off my career and out of my life for the horrible fact that I *healed a man who was dying*." He hmphs. Elixir is more then a little bitter about that. He waves the half-eaten drumstick over at Cain as well and gestures to the bucket of chicken and the tub of coleslaw. "You know her?" he asks of Raven, "She was hurt and here so I figured she had someone's OK— apparently Domino and Gambit— so I went ahead and healed her."

*

Bars.

Raven had bars.

Not the stylistics of prose on a timed beat, but bars that were attached to the ceiling which allowed her to 'plank' as such. One had to remain on the up and up when it came to gymnastics, cale..whatever that word is, cardio and strength. What better way to do that while -sleeping- like a bat?

Which Raven doesn't do, for the record.

Cain's emergence from the hallway prompts her to swing downward, her arms striking up as she joins legs together which causes feet to unhook, hands planted up on the ground as her back bends with a few snappling cracks that has her shooting upright and into proper position. And then there was a rub at the lower back. A fine twist. And a sigh.

She's getting old.

"Beer me." She snaps a finger towards Cain, all the while approaching the bucket to snag out a thigh, no one wants a dry breast. Though she does bob her head at Josh's ranting, she shakes her head completely, which allows her skin to ripple enough to reveal a dark-skinned beauty, clothed and classy. "All aliases should be treasured, my dear." She says towards Josh, but not really admonishing him. Not at all.

And while waiting for the beer? She examines Lynette with a certain curiousity. If Domino and Gambit thought she were okay, and Josh healed her with no issues with that? She didn't either. More the merrier. "Si ou pa mutant, ou konnen nou pral gen touye ou." Well.. okay.. Raven was an asshole after all.

*

Cain makes his way over to the fridge, pulling it open, "The rest o' us don't speak mushmouth, Ray, you gotta cut a little slack for people speak plain fuckin' English," he mutters, getting a beer for her, two for him and then making his way over to the chicken.

Cain has no aversion to dry breasts. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

"I don't give a fuck what anybody calls me," he says, taking a couple of pieces and going to grab the loveseat which serves as his chair. "Always pickin' up strays," he mutters.

*

Lynette follows after Raven intently. That ripple and shift, it was the first time she had seen it happen, but this was different. Again, surprise rests on the girl's features, but before she can speak, Cain's comment about their conversation has her glaring off toward him. "It ain't mushmouth. S'Haitian Creole." Even, so, she begins to reply to Raven, at first in the shared tongue, before breaking off into English. "Mwen panse ke mwen se yon mutant. Ak…and magic. I ain't human, dough. Dat much I c'n promise y'."

Rubbing at her formally wounded arm, she glances at the chicken, then back to the trio in the room; Big Man, Gold Boy, and Shifty Lady. "Look, I don' wanna cause y'no trouble. Dom jus' brought me here afta we got int' a fight down de street. S'm guys were pickin' on her, so, we picked back harder." She frowns, and curls up all the more. "S'gettin' worse out dere."

*

"Fair enough." admits Elixir to Raven with a little shrug, even as he finishes his drumbstick and leaves it on the plate before him. Then he goes for a breast, because he likes his crunchy white meat. Dry or moist, whatever. He gestures over to Lynette, "Are we re— wait." He looks more closely at Lynette then, "Are you a mutant? Then he nods his head slowly, "It's getting worse and its only the beginning. Sacramento was the first real purge. I still don't know how many mutants they murdered there. The Final Solution is coming, mark my words." Death… annoys Josh. He takes it as a personal affront if he can't save someone deserving saving. Which almost always means someone dies away from him, since no one in the Brotherhood has seen anything less he couldn't put back together."

*

The beer was taken from Cain before he takes a seat, the brown woman snapping off the top to take a swig of it, a bite of her chicken, and another swig. "Don't mind him, he's grumpy." They did wake him up, after all. Though his grumpiness doesn't stop her from taking a seat next to him, preferring a little bit more human skin than the blue, her feet raise and rest upon a big thigh of Cain to effectively use him as a stool.'

So she doesn't know. But she suspects. Raven will have to put her to the test, sooner than now. But to hear that she had the back of the Brotherhood was a promising prospect, one which she doesn't voice. But she does agree, it was getting worse.

"She suspects." She answers Elixir, finally deciding to make introductions. "I'm Mystique. This one here.." She lifts her foot to slam down hard upon the thigh of Cain, even though it would make no difference to him. "Is Juggernaut. Or, you can call him whatever." Her hand waves flippantly, though her conversation was for Josh. "Though, there is a question in my mind if we should take out mission worldwide. So far, we have amassed safe houses, money. Weaponry. We have one more stint to pull and then we will be ready. Turning the tide of the final solution shall be in our hands, not theirs." She takes another drink of her beer, thoughtful.

What to do.. what to do..

*

Cain isn't much for the talk of the cause. The dirty truth was he didn't give that much of a shit about the movement. He liked to break shit and take what he wanted and Raven let him do that with extreme prejudice. Hell, he wasn't even a mutant.

He takes a sip of his beer and continues to eat the chicken, rather used to Raven using him as a stool. "Start local, go global. Make a big noise, you'll attract more to join up," he shrugs.

*

"Mystique. Juggernaut. Elixir." She points to each with their respective names, before giving a nod and rubbing at the nape of her neck. "Sorry, I don' gotta name like dat. Suppose Lynette s'fine f'now." Timidly, she presses off the sofa and moves toward the bucket o'noms. Claiming a piece for herself, she tears away at its skin and meat, chewing away with stuffed cheeks. It was the face of a girl who had yet to shake off the 'this might be the last time you eat' part of her life.

"T'anks f'de food." She beings, now that only one cheek is puffed out. "N'f'not killin' me." As the conversation continues, however, those dark eyes shift from person to person in turn. Then, she lowers her gaze and keeps to her food. Some things are better left not being curious about.

*

For his part, Josh leaves to Cain and Raven talk of the scope of the war: he can kill with a touch with little more difficulty as it takes to heal a stabbing, but he doesn't know anything about tactics. He's a doctor. So he looks to Lynette now that Raven confirms her probable-mutanthood, "What can you do, if I may be so bold to ask? Obviously, I'm a healer." Mostly. "See, we're the people who have decided we've been pushed so far into the corner that its time to turn around and look our oppressors in the eye and say: no more. Never again. We're the last line of defense for mutantkind for when the baselines…" which is what Josh calls the non-mutants, "…in their fear, ignorance and hate, decide that its time the 'mutant problem' be solved with the simple declaration that there will be no more mutants. We know its coming. Sacramanto was the beginning. We're the ones who are going to defend our people, protect them, and fight back, because we're the ones who say: we have a right to exist, a right to freedom, a right to be who we are without shame or fear." Yeah, he's giving her the recruitment line.

*

Cain's words do hold some weight. Raven nods silently as she continues to munch upon her chicken. Her silence meant that she was listening. Elixir spoke well. She didn't need to compound upon his words. They were cut, dry, knowledgable. There was a tiny little smile that quirks her cheeks, a little nudge given to Cain to gesture silently towards Josh. This was a man who knew his truth. And goddamn she was proud.

*

Cain snorts, "Well, if we ever have to beat down the enemy with public speakin', guess we got Lincoln over here to give the talk," he says. "They'd like you real well down at the TV station, the pretty boy mutant talks just as good as regular folk," he says. "He don't even have no tentacles or warts or nothin'."

"Lynette, huh? Well, shoot, what can ya do? We can toss around some codename ideas fer ya. Ain't got nothin' better to do at the moment. How 'bout…Twilight Sparkle?"

*

Leaving nothing but the bone behind, the girl reaches for another helping before falling face first into the pitch being sold to her by Josh. She eats still, but slowly, so that her chewing doesn't interupt what's being said to her. The recognition of his, their, drive, if evident, and instant. "Y'all do dat?" She looks at the trio once more, before coming back around to the golden wonder. "M'gettin' tired of fightin' jus' f'de chance t'breathe. Was bad while travelin', n'even den, folks didn' know I could do t'ings. I didn' really, well, show m'powers off. T'be honest? I was 'fraid f'dem." Nibbling at her lower lip, she lowers her gaze to her food, and takes a few more bites before resting back and suckling grease off her finger tips.

"S'good fight. Good reason." She admits without hesitation. Pausing, a rueful smirk presses at her lips once Cain starts up again. The name causes her nose to wrinkle up. "I don' t'ink so…" A head shake, her curls swaying, she looks back to Josh and stares for a moment. "Sorry, m'jus' tryin' t'figure out how t'splain what I c'n do. I c'n smell good, wit m'tongue. Member t'ings like m'brain's takin' pictures. I c'n play wit shadows n'make t'ings move a lil." Then, she hesitates and glances at those in the room. "M'workin' on m'magic, too. But, uh…m'kinda like a walkin' voodoo doll, if y'know how dos work."

*

Pushing off a chair, Josh heads into the kitchen, even while turning and giving a look to Cain, and in a show of great maturity, sticks his tongue out. And thbbits. Still, he comes back with a knife, and heads over to Lynette, and he offers the knife to her, "Yeah, that's us. The Brotherhood of Mutants. We're the people who fight the secret war for our survival. But, I don't know anything about magic. Still, if you're a walking voodoo doll— show me. Do whatever it is you do to me." He gestures at himself with a confident, golden grin, "Don't worry, I can heal whatever damage done, and I've just turned off all my pain receptors, so it won't even hurt. Then maybe we can suggest a free name for you. Though I sort of like just 'Voodoo', from the start of it."

*

Raven rises from her seat, crossing paths with Josh briefly to lay a hand upon his shoulder. Whatever she thought to do, carries her out of the room for a moment. She'll let those two detail her later.

*

"Uh…" Shocked, perhaps, the girl looks at the knife and then back up to Josh. She follows Raven when she passes, and then a glance toward Cain. "De Brothahood…" The girl commits to memory before holding up a hand, palm out, and shaking her head. "Non, don' worry 'bout it. I got m'own." Like before, she draws her knife from her back pocket, and with a flick of her wrist, it clicks into place. "I don' wanna do dis. Y'ain't don' not'ing 'gainst me." She sizes up the gold one before leaning closer and moving her thumb along one of his own left over bones. That should be enough of a link.

Sitting back down, she looks at Josh and focuses on him, and him alone. Smoothly, her eyes transition from that of their natural state, to a solid hue of pale jade, and her pupils tin into black, verticle slits. This didn't have to be something tramatic, so before much more thought pours into the action, she moves the knife up and brings it down into her hand. Its point sinks in, sharp and smoothly, even digging down to catch the table below it. No blood builds, or flows, but instead, the harm would be transferred to Josh's own hand, completely with parted flesh, severed muscles, tendons, and bones.

*

Without even so much as wincing, Josh looks at his hand and holds it out. If he feels pain, he perfectly shows not feeling any at all. Or perhaps he really can just turn pain off, "Fascinating. The wound is there, real, exactly as if you had stabbed my hand. The muscle, vessel and tissue damage are all exactly what they should be, only you didn't." And a moment later, the bleeding wound in his hand simply closes up and vanishes. He goes over for a napkin and wipes up the blood. "So, I vote for Voodoo. Just Voodoo. 'Doll' is another option but that seems disresepectful. If not Voodoo, Vodun? Or Madame Pain. God, I'm awful at this." He laughs.

*

…"Goddamn it!" Is heard from afar. No. Don't call Lynette that. That's wrong.

*

Lynette pulls the blade back from her hand, her own extremity not suffering as his had. Her dark skin simply closes back up and returns to one, solid sheet of flesh. Putting her knife away, she blinks normally, even as her eyes returns back to their natural, normal, state. "I don' t'ink s'disr'spectful. Well, guess it d'pends on who's sayin' it." She decides, her slender shoulders bobbing in a shrug. The names, however, have her giggling and shaking her head. "Non, seems a bit on de nose." Lowering her gaze, her fingers drum against the table's top as she seems to be remembering something.

"De night I first found out dat I could do, well, dis…I didn' feel like m'self. Dey was s'mt'ing, s'mone, else dere wit me. I c'n guess who, but, till I speak wit her, I won' know f'sure." Her brows furrow and then relax, and with a lift of her head, the girl murmurs two words, "Anima Sola." The exclaimation, however, causes her to jump in her seat and look in its direction.

*

Back in his seat, Josh digs into his chicken breast, because yum. And he's starving, thus the giant bucket of chicken. "'Doll' is just something stupid men say to women as a means to diminish them, so bad for a free name. You're powerful. You're unique, and special, and the weak and pathetic who can't stand to see anyone— especially a woman— be powerful and strong and special, they like to try to diminish you with terms like 'doll'. So yeah, I say no to that one. Its important that your free name bring *strength*." Josh nods his head slowly, "Its about who you truly are, and how you believe you fit into the world. Its how you *choose* to fit into the world… Its your power and your pride. Anima Sola?" He blinks, "What's that mean?"

*

A case was soon brought out of the backroom while Josh and Lynette continue their discovery of each other. Josh was good at making people feel ease, Raven? It takes a certain person to allow -her- the opportunity. Fred. Cain. Gambit just followed along. Madrox.. Terry..

The case was dropped upon the couch next to Cain, her head tilted towards it as she purses her lips. "The F.R. is off the table for you. Need you to head west. Details inside. Call me when you get there." And with that, Raven finally heads out of the apartment. At least, shockingly enough, Lynette was in good hands!

*

Raven has left.

*

Lynette keeps to herself after Josh gives her another long list of reasons why something is 'good' or 'bad'. Another blink, she chooses to continue feeding herself now that the boy of gold has healed up nicely. The briefcast, the orders, it only causes the girl to quirk a questioning brow toward Josh, but she doesn't ask about it, at least not verbally. "Anima Sola's s'mt'ing dats important t'lots a religions n'such. Means 'Lonely Soul'. S'bout bein' in purgatory n'den breakin' y'chains, n'crawlin' outta de flames. I t'ink, well, I like it. Makes sense t'me. Deys lots a chains t'break dese days, n'since it's s'mt'ing important t'me, n'what I b'lieve…if dat ain't power, I don' know what is."

*

Nodding slowly as he listens, Josh grins, all golden and purty and bright. "Anima Sola, then. The question is, are you just in need of haven— and that's fine, we protect our people— or do you want to stand up and join the secret war? After the massacre of Sacramento, mutantkind can no longer afford to just wait for our rights and recognition. The baselines have made their move and wiped out an entire community of free people. If you just want to share some chicken, be safe for awhile, fine." Josh waves his hand around, but Elixir's eyes are intent, "The other option, really, is if you think enough is enough: if you want to stand up against those who have begun to exterminate us. Will you fight, Anima Sola? With brothers and sisters standing beside you? I can promise you one thing: as long as I live, you will live. And I will have your back."

*

"Chere, I ain' neva reachin' heav'n." She smiles solemnly and picks at her foods a bit more. Ripping some meat off the bone, she slurps it away and chews. "Been fightin' for awhile now, jus' f'lookin' diff'rent. De powers? Dat's s'mt'ing else all t'getha. M'gettin' angry, n'm tired, too." Sitting back, she rubs her fingers against the thighs of her jeans and stares across toward Josh. Falling silent, she allows herself to settle and glances around the room once more. Returning to Josh, she then nods. "I fight."

*

Josh rises up, and steps over to Lynette, and offers a hand, "Then let me say: Welcome to the Brotherhood of Mutants. Mystique has to seal the deal because she's in charge, but I don't see a problem. You're one of us, and you won't stand for them killing us, so you're our own. We protect our own. We are the last best standard upon which our people rallies, and we will stand against those that would kill us and we say, together: No more and never again. No more and never again."

*

Lynette stands as well, her chair scraping against the floor. Her hands rub down her thighs a few time, trying to clear off all the grease she can from her digits. To his hand, she accepts it with her own. Her grip is firm, but gentle enough, somewhat still worried about his formally wounded hand. "No mor', n'neva 'gain."

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