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Lorna stepped out of the van that had been on loan from the city's relief groups where she volunteered. Mutant town most definitely was not getting supplies after the Giant's attack last month in comparison to the rest of the city. Given the cold, the ice and snow, there weren't exactly lines of volunteers willing to help out. Never mind that mutant town was… well, mutant town. No one else wanted to go there regularly.
Luckily, thanks to Lorna's last visit, she at least knew where to deliver the supplies. With Tommy tagging along? It could only make her life easier.
She sighed, glancing around at the area, much less lively than it had been the last time she'd visited. Then made her way to the back of the van and opened it up. A glance was spared at the boxes, "Alright, so we need to get these to the community center.."
*
Tommy wasn't entirely used to riding in vehicles anymore; he hadn't stepped foot in one voluntarily since his powers manifested. Squad cars, to be specific. It just wasn't /needed/ when you could run at the kinds of speeds that made the wind itself envious and planes eat one's dust.
But out of the van he comes, walking around to the back with his 'cousin', before looking over the boxes. "Alright. Do you want these taken the fast way or the normal way?" he asks of Lorna — speeding is no problem for him, but she might want to keep up appearances. He'll respect that much. Then there's a glance around, "Hope couldn't make it today, but another friend of mine was supposed to come by. She doesn't know about," he waves a hand at super-speed for just a second. "This, though."
*
Julie is, meanwhile, poking her way along the streets in one of the shop'd older little Studebaker pickup trucks, well-maintained for all of that, but… it's for work, of course. Various scrap metal's in the bed, by the look of it, twisted fenders being a rather common aftereffect of some of the monstrous incursions into the city of late. She pulls up a bit behind the truck and gets out and waves a work-gloved hand. "Hey, Jersey Tommy, this is it?" she glances around.
*
Another glance was spared over her shoulder, at the lack of any sudden greetings by any blue skinned women, Lorna seemed to relax faintly. A smile was offered to Tommy and she stretched her arms over her head. "Is she a mutant?" She asked, blinking as she glanced at her relation, arching a brow as a hand settled on her hip. "Cause that might get.. uh.. complicated, if she's not. People here aren't exactly.. fans of regular people just showing up. Remember what I told you?" She trailed off as the car pulled up behind the city van and she blinked, recognizing the woman, though she couldn't exactly remember her name.
"Jersey..?" She glanced at Tommy, hooking an eyebrow upwards. Her hair was back to its dyed brown again, and she shifted her weight upon her toes. A hand raked through her hair, and she heaved a soft sigh.
"Hey, uhm.. I'm sorry, I can't say I remember your name. Thanks for coming to help out." An exhaled followed, and Lorna glanced around again at the snowy streets. Nervous? She wasn't nervous. Not at all. She'd just taken pains to avoid upsetting Raven or the Brotherhood this time, and would really rather not get the blue skinned woman pissed off at her. She'd even avoided going to Xavier's for training this weekend for training, paranoid? Maybe a little, but Raven was a tad bit scary.
*
A car is parked not far away; Jaguar 3.8 by the look of it, in classic berry red. Within a man is listening to the AM radio, a hat worn to conceal his face, newspaper resting against the steering wheel. That man, however, is one Erik Lensherr. Lorna's unexplained absence from her training session this weekend is what drew him out. It wasn't difficult to find her as soon as he was in Manhattan; her very presence is a marker that doesn't make sense among the rest of those magnetic forces that do make sense. She, like him, is an anomaly.
Yes, Magneto is watching his daughter, curious as to why she's out here. He could just ask her, but one thing he's learned about teenagers… they aren't always forthright in what they're doing.
*
"Not as far as I know." Tommy replies, raising a brow. Green eyes stare a bit. "You've seen how fast I move, havn't you?" he asks, lips curving down into a frown. "If your trouble shows up and wants to pick a fight with people for helping them? I'm getting /both/ of you out of here, and I'm taking care of business." he explains, hands coming together to crack his knuckles. "Messin' with /good/ people will give our kind a bad name. You don't see the Brotherhood attacking civvies." Tommy points out — probably completely erroneously. But any reports of this in the papers are clearly the work of biased reporters. "If I gotta smack some sense into people to make them see that, I will." Especially since they messed with Lorna. In some ways the 'extended' family is closer to him than the immediate, with Wanda and Strange being met with more hesitation by Tommy due to how much his 'adopted' parents sucked. Pietro, Lorna, Billy? None of them have that immediate stigmata to deal with.
Well. The normal option was probably the way to go, now that Julie was here; she was one of the very few people in his life that /didn't/ know about the powers… but as the one he's known the longest, how to tell her how much more awesome he was than most people? Was a tricky subject. Still, the fact that she was willing to come into Mutant Town was a step in the right direction; it meant none of that silly bias against their kind, at least.
"Diz!" Tommy replies, waving a hand. "Diz, meet Lorna, she's… complicated. Kinda like a long lost cousin." He hadn't really gone into the new family thing too extensively, yet. "Lorna, meet Dizzy, I used t'hang out with her and her cousins back in the day." Before Juvie. Which he hasn't told /Lorna/ about. Introductions made, Tommy grabs for a box — before giving Lorna another look. "I grew up in Jersey — the good looks and pretty accent don't give it away?"
As mentioned earlier, Tommy's not big on vehicles. The vast majority? Too slow. Even airplanes are antiquated for one who can run across the very oceans. So the Jaguar misses his attention, and i he'd noticed it? His first thoughts would be simple: Cute car, but still too slow.
*
Julie wears a convenient embroidered nametag on the breast of her work-jacket, with the name 'Dizzy,' even, but nods. It's Lorna. "Oh, it's Lorna from that, ah, Rio-themed party," she says. "Still out doing the good works, are ya? How's your friend?" Lorna had seemed somewhat occupied with Ilyana's distress, after all, and hadn't had much chance to chat amid all of *that* craziness. The Jag does get a little smile of appreciation, though perhaps it's a bit out of place in the neighborhood. Diz, then as now, is nuts for cars, even if she technically might not need the engine. Does consider a moment, "Long lost cousin, eh? I guess like the mouse says, it's a small world."
*
Lorna made a face, "Actually Tommy, they kinda do." She offered in response to his mention about not attacking civvies. She knew that first hand, after all. Then she was moving to lift up a box, by hand, and clearly seemed to struggle to get a good grip on it for a moment.
Then Julie was there and she offered a strained smile. "Right, sorry. Yeah from that.. uhm.. from the Rio-party. Yeah." She flushed, biting her lower lip as she hefted the box higher up in her arms.
"And yeah, Illyana is fine." She glanced around and nodded to the building on their right. "All of this has to go in there to get checked in. The community center hands out the supplies from there."
That whole sensing magnetic fields and anomalies in them went both ways, or it would've if Lorna was paying any sort of attention. Rather paranoid as she was about getting yelled at for bringing more people along, it took her a bit too long to notice her father's presence.
She was turning, arms filled with a box of supplies, when she finally noticed what was really making her look around constantly. The magnetic fields had been off, and subconsciously she'd been looking for the reason since she'd gotten out of the van.
She flushed, nearly dropping the box and tripping over herself. "Oh man!"
*
Inside the car, Erik frowns when Lorna trips over herself. He draws in a deep breath and is considering whether to finally leave the car, but lifting his head revealed his face to some passers by. Suddenly, there comes a knock on the driver's side window, prompting Erik to dart his head to the left.
"Oh man!" There, a green skinned mutant boy, no older than sixteen, steps back and points at the car, calling to his friends. "It is him!!! It's Magneto!! I knew it!"
His friends, two other young boys around the same age, come rushing over. One of them has unnaturally red hair, the other seems normal from all outward appearances. "Hey, don't have a cow, man!" calls the normal one.
"Yeah, how do you know that, dorkface?" says the other.
"Because, you know how."
Erik's eyes harden, and the window rolls down of its own accord. Well, magnetic forces are pushing that handcrank, at least. "Boys," he says sternly from the driver's seat. "I might suggest you -"
"Hey man," says the green skinned mutant. "Don't sweat it, dig? We just… man, what you did out there in Brooklyn? That was a gas, man!!"
"Yeah," says the normal. "We all read about it, can't help us being keyed, ya know?"
*
"Tch. You read that in the papers or something?" Yeah, he'd have to see it in person to believe it — and even then it might take a bit of convincing. He's already starting to walk towards the building in question until he hears Lorna stumble. "You alright?" is asked over his shoulder.
Then there's a glance towards Julie and a nod, "Yeeeah. No kidding there. There's a lot of people who won't go anywhere near here 'cause they think the people here aren't people." There's obvious disgust on his face at that comment. Tommy's an open book. "Was glad to see that you're not like those jerks, though."
Then there's the commotion over by the car, and now the silver-haired speedster turns. Both brows raise at once. "Man, what's goin' on over there?" He'd normally go investigate… but he's being a bit more reserved. Just in case he needs to run the girls out of Dodge at those breakneck speeds.
*
Lorna grimaced, but found her footing and managed to not drop the box. Her gaze lingered on the car, now with a crowd outside and frowned faintly. "Tommy, can you and Dizzy go on in? I'm fine, but I need a minute. I'll be right behind you." She shifted her grip on the box, and made to set it on top of Tommy's box, figuring that the young man could handle it just fine.
"Tell them you're from the city works relief project. I've been here before, so they should be expecting you. They'll want to look through everything and get it sorted, so they could really use your help with that." She smiled, and then, without waiting was darting across the street toward the car and the gaggle of mutants gathered around it.
*
Julie nods, and laughs a bit, there, taking up a box or two and saying, …of course with a Brookyn-Italian-American accent to contrast, "Yeah, though at one point we had a Big Tommy, a Little Tommy, and an Irish Tommy so to avoid confusion and all." She nods. "Good they're helping out here. Don't get too many calls to the neighborhood but it looks like a lot of folks are having a rough time, as of the last one."
Diz pauses, nods to Tommy. "Seems lots is scared on both sides, really. Some …pretty weird folks here, but you know. Everyone's weird to somebody somehow." Eyes follow to the commotion of the kids and all by the Jag. Pauses with her boxes. "I dunno, some kind of celebrity, maybe, fancy foreign job like that," she says. "Not what you usually see around here for wheels."
*
Erik opens the car door, urging the teenagers to step back a bit. When he steps out of the car, he folds his arms and looks to the three. He's not one for hero worship, especially when such a thing is not wanted or serves any sort of purpose. Quite the contrary, given his reason for being here.
"I read about that," he answers them. "Do you see me wearing armor?"
"Well…"
"Um. No."
"No, sir, no armor."
"Then clearly you are mistaken. Now, go on now, before I feel compelled to call for help."
The boys look to each other, then go scampering off. The green one though, he hangs back for a moment, and turns back to flash a peace sign toward Erik. "Mutants for life, man!"
Erik shakes his head, suppressing a sigh. "You don't even know what you're talking about," he murmurs under his breath, before turning around to consider what kind of unfortunate attention this has garnered. Oh, and to look for his daughter.
*
"Uh… yeah, sure." Tommy replies to Lorna as her box is placed on his — shifting a bit to adjust to the weight, but yes, he can handle both boxes at once. Just makes it a little trickier to see. "C'mon, Diz. Let's get in there and get these dropped off." he offers over to Julie, motioning with his head before heading on towards the building as directed — moving fast, but carefully. He's gonna try and drop these off as quick as he can as to not leave Lorna out with potential trouble for /too/ long.
Little does he know that he's not the /only/ one watching over her today. From what he could overhear? The people outside are definitely mutants (or thought to be). But that's all that he knows for the moment.
*
Julie can't help but smile a bit at the kids, green or not. Does tilt her head like maybe *she's* recognize Magneto from the TV or something, but says to Tommy, "Besides, cute kids and all." She nods, hustling along behind Tommy about as one used to winter sidewalks goes with an armload of ….stuff. Does glance around, once they enter the community center, not knowing really what to expect. "Wonder if they're short on mechanics that might come around, come to think of it. I don't mind, really."
*
Lorna paused as she waited for the gaggle of mutants to disperse, her features reddening as she watched her father dismiss them with a casual ease that most assuredly did not settle on his teenaged daughter. Who, at the moment, was looking very much like every teenager that had ever been embarrassed by the surprise presence of a parent. Her arms were crossed, face hot, and lips creased into a pout.
"Tata, what are you doing here?" If there was a hint of a whine at the edge of her voice, it couldn't be helped. Life was unfair like that.
"You said that you were fine with me continuing to volunteer here. I just got it cleared with Miss Frost for community service." She wasn't going to admit that she'd bailed on training. Nope. Xavier was the telepath, not Dadneto. Thankfully.
*
Erik finally turns when he sees Lorna and walks toward her. He gestures slightly at his side, and the Jaguar's locks engage. Pity the fool who messes with that car while its unattended.
"I'm no telepath," he answers. "When you didn't show up for training, I had to assume there was some… trouble." There is a deeper meaning in his tone when he says that, and as much as he may be trying to avoid it… there are definitely fatherly undertones in there.
Subtext? Scolding. Not heavily, but in that unnervingly quiet yet intense way that is uniquely Erik's.
*
Lorna glanced down at her feet as her father closes the distance between them. Her face burning, "Tata, I was gonna call. I just.. wanted to make the run down here first. I didn't think you'd come all the way down to the city.." She pushes her hair back from her face, shooting a glance back at the van, and then toward the community center where Tommy and Dizzy had been before she crossed the street.
"And I'm fine, see?" A glance was spared upwards through the fringe of her bangs and she bit her lower lip.
*
Julie comes out before too much longer, then, glancing up the block with a little wave, then back up to see just how much stuff to unload there really *is* back there, hopping up to move some out to the edge of the truck's loading bumper for more efficiency.
*
"That may be," Erik says to Lorna as he walks with her, speaking in conversational tones meant not to be carried. "But the blue woman could be anyone." There is a certain lack of trust in his tone, which he does not explain. Fortunately, when he spots the work in progress, his expression brightens. "So, this is the work you've been doing?" he asks, sparing a brief look toward Julie before looking back toward Lorna. "I'm impressed."
*
Lorna grumbles under her breath as she notes Julie's return, figuring that complaining about her dad's surprise visit was moot, she makes her way back over toward the van. "She's not going to hurt me, okay? She's got better things to do than pick on my deliveries to Mutant Town" She mumbled, arms still crossed as she makes her way across the street again. Never mind that she'd just run into said blue woman the other day.
There were plenty of supplies still to be unloaded.
"Hey Dizzy, this is my father." She bit her lower lip as she spoke, and then glanced back at said father.
"And yeah, Miss Frost just approved of me getting campus support. She said she wants to come down and see for herself what the Frost Institute might be able to do to help out here." She smiled, but it was still strained and she glanced around again, before picking up another box.
*
Julie tries to wave and take down a box at the same time, after hopping down from the bumper, finds this isn't really working, and leaves it for the moment to wave properly, "Nice to meetcha, Mr, er, Mr Lorna's Dad," she says, adding as Tommy comes out, "I brought a hand truck in case it helps, it's on top of all that junk in the truck…" Well, whoever the girl is, she doesn't seem shy about working.
*
It took him a bit longer than he wanted — he'd told Julie to head out ahead and let him know if there was any trouble, but paperwork filled out and supplies dropped off, Tommy returns to the street outside the community center, stretching out his limbs one at a time.
There's a moment when he takes a moment to seek out the girls — then jogs over. "Everything alright out here, Lorna?" offers the platinum haired one, watching the gathering warily. The two girls and some old guy. Might be some sorta creeper.
*
A rather large individual is marching along the sidewalk, wearing a longcoat and a derby hat to conceal his bald head. Hands are buried within pockets, shoulders raised and hunched in a classical 'better not mess with me' sort of manner. Crusher Creel had heard of his neighborhood, and somewhat curious of his potential origins, decided to check it out. But he's not seeing anything out of the ordinary, almost frustratingly. At least, being paraded in the streets. Tommy chooses to run in front of Creel, who if he were polite would just sidestep. Instead he attempts to keep going undeterred. Tommy might get harmlessly but thoroughly bumped if he doesn't let him make way! "Move it." The situation might end there, if he didn't see the jaguar. He slows down, and then turns to stare disbelievingly at the vehicle. "Well, I'll be damned."
*
A glance was spared for Tommy, and Lorna rolled her eyes at the posturing. Yeah, posturing. She could totally handle herself. "Tommy, this is my father. Tata, this is Tommy, one of Wanda's sons." She arched a brow pointedly there. She didn't know how much her father knew about Wanda and their relations, she had only just gotten the long and short of it the other night.
How strange to be an aunt!
At Julie's words she grinned, but didn't supply up a name. "Tata, as you can see we're totally fine. Just unloading things." She didn't notice Creel, not yet.
*
Oh, better believe Tommy was posturing. Posturing is what Tommy does best! Other than running. And motormouthing. And…
But that settles down once Lorna makes the introductions, "Oh! This is your old man?" Tommy replies, sizing up Erik thoughtfully. He's… not that much older than the Doc, from what the speedster can tell. Guess young parents run in the family. "What she said. I guess that makes us… fifteenth-cousins twice-removed-in-law or something like that?" Tommy offers up — he missed the extended bit of family-tree working.
…and then comes Creel. Who bumps into the immobile object. "Hey! You got a problem, pal?" …no, someone bumping into Tommy isn't going to just end there. Poke the tiger, you get the mouth.
*
Creel happens to be a fellow tiger, really. When sparks fly from the brief passing, his attention is drawn away from the Jaguar. Grudgingly. "I do gotta problem!" he calls out, drawing large hands from his pockets. In terms of physique, he's certainly got the imposing advantage over Tommy, sneering down. "Little twerps like you not knowing your place. You see someone like me walking by, you better give them some respect and get out of the way. You got it?" He extends a finger to poke at him!! Lorna and Julie, for the moment, are ignored.
*
Julie is nodding, whatever's being said among Erik and relations and herself. Murmurs under her breath, there, "Same old Tommy," she winks to Lorna, then pipes up, her accent local and Italian. "Ay, big guy, how's about giving us a hand with this stuff?" Maybe it's playing the 'girl card' but sometimes that works.
*
Lorna most definitely wasn't expecting some guy off the street to start something with Tommy, her eyes go round and she stares between the two. "Tommy," Her voice carrying a hint of warning. She knew the speedster, and unlike Julie most assuredly only knew him when he was 'behaving'.
She set her box to the side, biting her lower lip as she glanced back at the remaining contents of the van. Picking fights with big guys in Mutant Town was bound to be troublesome.
*
Oh, he wasn't behaving this time. He didn't need to! He hadn't been /told/ to. In fact, mouth is about to open to insert foot appropriately… and then Julie speaks up, reminding him that the girls are here. Then comes Lorna. So instead of coming back with a smart remark, Tommy just waaaaits until the very last moment… and moves about a foot to the left before Creel's finger makes contact. Can't touch this!
"Well, then we got a problem — but it don't involve the girls. You man enough to carry some of these, or are the girls and I gonna have to do it all ourselves?"
*
Tommy has partially disconnected.
*
Creel seems grudgingly satisfied by this turn of events. His need for respect is fairly petty, but escalating things to a fight is not the actual intent. His goal wasn't to come punch someone in the face down here, after all. "…you guys moving, huh? What's with the jaguar?" He glances around warily, before checking out Lorna and Julie in a manner they may not entirely appreciate. "I heard a buncha them Mutants hang out here… that true?" He grabs a few boxes and less then delicately transfers them. "…asking for a friend!!"
*
Julie ohs, to Creel, gives Lorna or Tommy a wink. Not exactly a drag race but between that and the old neighborhood she's pretty used to guys posturing. "Ah, yeah, they call it 'mutant town' around here these days, hard times for a lot of em with all that's going on and some of their other troubles. This stuff's to help out, actually. It's going in a room towards the back."
*
Lorna scowls lightly under the man's gaze, green eyes flickering with disapproval. "The car is my father's." She grumbled, and then turned around to pick up the box again. "We're moving supplies inside to the community center. It's because of the giant attack last month. Mutant town was hit pretty hard and hasn't really gotten rebuilt was nicely as other places." She offered, and glanced toward Tommy briefly, before she made her way toward the center.
She bumped the door open with her hip, and slipped inside to deposit the box.
*
"What they said," Tommy replies, grabbing some boxes himself and following along with the rest of the group. "That friend of yours a mutant? This could be either the best or worst place to hang out; best 'cause there's a lot of 'em — strength in numbers — worst because a place called 'Mutant Town' basically has a big red target painted on it."
*
Creel sneers at that, having made sure to carry a large number of boxes more than Tommy as a show of proper masculinity. "Might be." he agrees. "And hey. I think if you got powers, you shouldn't be bossed around no more. You get it? Some of them mutants had the right idea. Like that insect girl, Beatrice. Yeah. Put the fear of god in them normies, and things'll end up a lot better."
*
Julie nods to the others, handing off boxes, then clambering up into the truck to shift some more to the back there. She's rather small, but there's a hint she's a throwback to Rosie The Riveter types who'd be her immediate elders. "Well, I dunno about that, guy, but thanks for helping out. Pretty sure it ain't God they're fearing when people do and say stuff like that. Scared people do dumb things, whether it's with guns and bombs or something else, I figure. Lots of different types live here. People being scared ain't getting the lights on any faster."
*
Lorna was quick to set down her box of supplies, as she turned she caught the tail end of the stranger's sneering remarks. "And scared people do stupid things." She added on the side, glancing toward Tommy and she nodded. "Like the fire out west…" She bit her lower lip and then swung the door open as she stepped back outside and to the van.
Another arm load of boxes, made considerably less thans to Creel's heavy lifting, and she glanced over Julie in the back, offered a nod and continued to unload.
*
Oh, Tommy's aware that Creel's got more boxes — he knows he's being outclassed in this one — but he focuses on the fact that the job's getting done. Job getting done means the girls will be happy means Tommy benefits from that, too. So he can live with this result. Plus, it won't get him the disapproving look of disapprovingness that getting into a proper scrap would.
"Might be right." Tommy admits, glancing over towards Creel. Then the girls present the more pacifistic viewpoint, "I'm thinking, the key isn't for mutants to make themselves feared — that's just gonna lead to a war, which they'll win, but it'll be a bloody mess for everyone involved." he considers, dropping the boxes he has, and going back for a resupply.
"The key is respect. Look at celebrities — they walk around better than normal joes, but everybody loves 'em. W—they, just gotta work on achieving that level of fame and adoration somehow."
*
"Fame and adoration, huh?" Creel considers that. Yeah, the happiest he was ever in his life was a heavyweight boxer. Everyone knew he could hurt them, and worshipped him for that fact. That's the sort of thing he wants again. The whole idea of that involving the betterment of powered person, though, is where things fall apart. "Yeah. But that's different. When you see a strong dog that howls louder than all the others, do you parade it around, or do you put a muzzle on it, hrrm? Then again, maybe ya'll are tiny mutants. Can bloom flowers or something. I'm not, though. Nah. I'm big news… really big news. I don't even know what to do with it yet!" Oh sure, he's caused some scuffles, but sadly the Absorbing Man is not yet a household name…
*
Julie makes sure Tommy gets a box with respectable heft, but nothing to be a strain. These matters can be delicate, but there's nothing like putting that testosterone to work. If she gets ahead of the schleppers, she joins them making a run inside, then clambers back up to shift more boxes toward the gate. She says to Creel, then, in the process. "Around here, big news would be people getting through the winter better, and this neighborhood getting back together. I bet if someone brought some trouble here you'd be able to, yaknow, kinda help negotiate that. They just don't need no *more* trouble, you know? I dunno about adoration, but more help could be pretty big news in *this* general vicinity right around now."
*
Lorna paused, staring at Creel for a long moment. She pursed her lips together for a brief moment, exhaled and then went to grab a box again and shuffle it inside. When she came back across Creel, she shook her head at him. "Thanks for helping us carry things inside, and all, but uhm.. but I think we've got this now." She bit her lower lip, glancing toward the back of the van. It was almost done being unloaded.
*
Tommy considers Creel's point, nodding along — fame is something the two of them can agree on. When he was hero'ing, that was probably one of the best parts involved. The fangirls certainly didn't hurt. Granted, /now,/ he can't really enjoy that particular aspect of it, but…
"Depends on what the dog does; celebrities might be jerks most of the time, but they make movies that people like. You take guys like… that Captain America guy, saves the world bunches of times, people love him. So maybe if mutants go around savin' folks, stoppin' bank robberies and stuff like that… it'll have the same effect. You dig? Maybe some good advice to give your pal." Pause. "Even better if they do it in front of a reporter to make sure it gets in the papers or on the news."
…and yes, Julie's definitely managing to make plenty of use of the machismo on display.
*
A bit of a snort is done towards Lorna, when it's clear his already half-hearted help is not wanted any further. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" he calls out to her, somewhat missing the meaningful points from Tommy as a result. "Figured I'd see what was going on in this Mutant town. But I ain't seeing anyone proactive. Not a lick. Putting your head down like a bunch of cowards and hoping other people look good enough to change the world." He shoves the side of the truck, making it wobble heavily. But he doesn't seem to have any genuinely superhuman strength. "A bunch of heroes go out, that's good for the heroes. But you're naive if you think some guy who sweats acid is going to get any damn respect on the street for that. Mutants gotta be respected as a whole. But that's your problem… since I ain't gonna have NO problem with that!"
*
Julie splays a hand out toward the floor of the truck she's in regardless… superhuman strength really *wouldn't* be a shocker from a guy as big as Creel. "Easy, there, big guy" is about all she really says or does, though, as long as the vehicle doesn't threaten to topple. "Well, as respect goes, I can tell you this from the old neighborhood, there's guys you can really count on, and there's wiseguys who think they're all the bee's knees to everyone, but no one's exactly *feeling* that way, capiche? This is New York, you take care of a neighborhood, she'll take care of you. End of the day, someone who sweats acid's gotta work for a living, somehow, too, probably just wants his shot at that like everyone else." She shifts out some of the last boxes out to go in. "Thanks for the hand, there, big guy. Really. Could be an all right place around here for you, just you know this town's got a way of chewing up people who's looking for shortcuts to fame, and all."
*
Lorna looks toward over her shoulder as Creel pokes at her verbally. She fought the urge to scowl, and no real smile pulled at her lips. "No, I mean we've got like one more trip from the van back inside and that's it. Thanks for helping." She pursed her lips into a thin line and then choosing to bite her tongue. No use in telling the man about the Brotherhood, or what her father had done on TV.
But that last part has her shifting her attention, and her arm load. "You have to consider, if a few of the brightest and greatest change public opinion on the larger scale, then it means less hatred for the regular person. If you raise up a few, you raise up the many.."
*
There's a bit of a frown that comes to his lips. Creel's pushing all the right buttons, to be sure. But, the work is done and that's a good thing — because a glance at his watch tells him that he needs to be going. "Lorna, Diz — I gotta jet. Got another place to be." Is offered to them, then a longer look is offered towards Creel. "You, big guy — you did good work. Keep it up, and good luck to your buddy." With that? He's walking around the van… and the second he's out of sight?
Zoom!
*
"Tch. When I was a normal person, you know what I got? Nothing. Nobody looked out for me. Nobody cared. Maybe if I had a normal life to care about, your words'd mean something. But I spent long enough outside the limelight to know, you can break in yourself, you can clap at someone from afar, but that won't get you nowhere." He cracks his neck to the side, then begins to march down the sidewalk once more. "Good luck helping out the unfortunate, buckos. But I'm after something bigger…!"