|
  |
Billy and Teddy's apartment is full of the smells; laid out in the center coffee table is a large round plate, on which injera— a spongey, slightly sour flatbread— has been layered on the plate. On top of this are four different varieties of wat— thick stews— in piles, and two different salads, all kept in their own place. Billy invited Kaleb over for Ethiopian lunch!
Billy tears off a bit of the injera, slathers up some wat, and pops it happily into his mouth. "Mmmm."
Kaleb seemed to actually get behind the strange food using the spongey stretchy bread to pick at the various foods. In spite of his usual dour self, he was actually enjoying hte strange things that didn't involve using phrases like 'second remove'. "You know, this reminds me a little bit of when I was laid up last summer. Attilan has… very interesting takes on food. This has a lot more citris in this. How'd you learn about this stuff, Billy?"
"In the future?" Billy shrugs and smiles, "I remembered going to an Eithiopian restaurant once, and thought it looked gross but tasted delicious. So I just wormholed to Eithiopia and got some take out from a nice restaurant there, though their standards of 'nice' and ours might not match up… Mostly? I love the bread and 'stew'." He tears some off too, and soups up some stew before popping it into his mouth, "How have you been doing, Kaleb?"
Kaleb actually grinned a bit, which widened into a rare, amused look. He wasn't awful whnen politics weren't fueling his motor. "Man, I'd absoluuuuutely abuse that ability. I mean, admittedly I'm ot going to claim to be a bastion of responsibility, but still, that's pretty fantastic. This is… this is good." he stuffed his face like any other teenager might. In that regard he wasn't that different. The question got a shrug. "Working on… okay. I guess. Weirdly doing this…teaching thing? Kinda groovy. I don't mind it as much as I thought I would." His brow furrowed thoughtfully considering much on that and then shaking his head. "Every day is kinda hard, but…teaching some of my people how to do things and have those tools? It's… a different way to fix a problem I guess. " Blue eyes picked up to Billy and he asked, listening carefully, "You? Been… thinking about what we figured out. You holding up alright?"
"It is a power that is easy to abuse." Billy laughs softly and nods his head, "And hey, you ever need transportation, let me know. I don't mind being a Billy shaped world hopping taxi." He blinks, "Teaching? At that school? What subject?" He tilts his head, "I'm holding up okay, mostly because Kellan's agreed to have one of hims keep a 24/7 watch on my parents house, from where the Big GReen Stupidhead read out of my mind."
Kaleb looked up to Billy and squint, "Don't get my brother killed. One gets hurt and they all do. But… I'm glad he can help." It disturbed him but hewasn't about to tell Kellan not to do something risky when he, himself, was the one in emergency care twice last fall. With a not-entirely forthcoming half-smile the sonic shrugged. "Advanced calc and geometry. Sometimes other mathematic disciplines. They, um…" He tried to figure out how to explain, "They come a bit naturally for me because of how I perceive the world. But, sometimes they ask me to explain other things like wave sciences. Turns out too many other Mutants don't relaly get a chance to even go to school." There rose a sigh looking at the plate of food before grabbing more looking back up to his teammate. "I talked to your grandfather you know. Weird that one dinner can change your perspective in one's whole life. I really, really hope you get opportunity to spend more time with him."
"He's just a lookout; I gave him glasses that let him 'see' metal, so if a metal shaped person appears, he can immediately vanish it and come get me and I'll teleport home." Billy reassures Kaleb, "I don't expect him to do anything but keep a lookout." He then blinks, "Huh, I didn't realize you were into math… I am, too. Math and sciences are my thing. Wait. My grandfather?" He furrows his brow thoughtfully, "What'd he have to say? I accept Wanda as Mom and Stephen as Dad, but Erik as Grandpa is weird to me."
Kaleb arched an eyebrow and grinned, "Idin't take you for a math guy. I guess reality bending that sort of becomes a favoured trait. Truths of chaos theory and all." An agreeable nod followed from him considering this and approving, "I dig it." He popped another tiny hunk of meat into his maw and considered this. When Billy asked what Erik told him there was a long, thoughtful pause. He swallowed and really formed the thought to words before speaking. "He told me…that some day we will change the world, but," Kaleb held up a finger and then pressed it to his lips, "He told me I can either take my rage, and all my hatred and use it as fuel to burn the world with, or" His finger lift from his lips and waggled in the air, "Or I can take it and fuel a drive towards fixing all teh things that are broken. Reshape the world so we can live in it. We ca either build or destroy, but we can't really have it both ways. Destruction was the path of the selfish man and helps only himself."
"Oh, I'm going to school to be a chemical engineer. There's tones of math in chemistry." Billy nods his head quickly, "The 'career' I have always seen me having is experimenting with molecules and chemicals to make new substances to make a better world." But he listens, filling his face with food as he does, "Huh, that's actually pretty wise." He nods in agreement. "I largely agree with that whole worldview."
Kaleb squint to Billy confused, "Why do you want a carreer? You're a fucking wizard, Billy. Why you would want a job is beyond me." He sat back in his chair and considered the words of Magneto carefully and finally looked to Billy with a very frrank expression, "Your grandfather is the greatest hero our people ever had. It's not because he can whoop more ass than any othe rbeing alive. Well… okay in part sure. We won't diminish its impressiveness. But because he understood what needed to be done and fought so we we could be free. We can stand. Some of us even perceived as equal. Some of us. Unlike my people up n the highrises he used his power to enable all of us. That's… pretty amazing. And I'll be honest I'm really not perfect. It's actually super… hard for me some days, but I believe him. We can make this world Better, Billy. But it's going toneed to be because we make them want to change and be better and not… this."
"I still have to pay rent." Billy blinks, gesturing around, "And buy food and all of that. I mean, I can conjure food a bit but only if I know exactly what its like, but I definately have to pay rent. This place? Its actually a pretty expensive apartment. Teddy and I both have jobs, otherwise we'd be living with our parents both." Then he looks seriously at Kaleb, "Greatest hero? Uhh, I don't really know almost anything about him. We've only really been around once or twice." He nods his head, "I've always believed that, that we can make this world better. Its why I think I have the power I do."
|ROLL| Kaleb +rolls 1d20 for: 10
Kaleb looked wholly very confused. This whole job…rent thing was baffling. "Just tell your dad to pay for it." Yeah there was no firm grasp on the street level reality of this situation here. Still he considered Billy's perception that he was designed for a specific purpose. Maybe everyone was. "Heh your Grandfather thought tat of me. That I have been given a gift to make people listen. Something about how this is used will vary what they hear to which I say well… no shit but I'm not going to tell that to him. I have to believe that he's on to something you know? But… maybe we're where we need to be. The future when I went there… it was jarring." He paused and wondered to Billy, "I did get to hear something called Earth, Wind, and Fire though. it was positivly wonderful."
"My parents aren't rich; they can pay for college and give me an allowance, but not enough for this place." Billy shakes his head, then blinks, "Wait, you went to the future? You WENT to the FUTURE?" He stares, "I'm _from_ the future. I tried to get back so many times. I don't want to anymore, but still. But yeah, Earth Wind and Fire. I remember them." He sounds wistful.
Kaleb sat very still and slowly tore a small piece off of the bread with a sigh. "Yeah. I went to teh future.. I went to 1978. We had to go stop an assassin made out of a hive of… things…" Taking a deep breath he shook his ehad. "I went with Jean. We used Cerebro to go and… it was in thi s guy named Logan. Wicked fast ehaling factor. Faster than Jay's. I used the highest amplitude I could and just… exploded the swarm and…and I killed him." Kaleb, for all his hating allt eh things? This bugged him. He shook his head and looked back up to Billy. "Hearing went out for two days. Broke the machine that sent us. We almost didn't get back man. It wasn't pretty man. Mutants were being hunted down wholesale. It was scary as hell."
"Sentinel?" Billy says the word quietly, testingly, and only that word. He watches Kaleb's face intently.
Kaleb looked up to Billy with his brow furrowed and he just stared for a moment, and then the smallest of nods. His eyes squint shut in a blink and he said, ambiently, "You promised you wouldn't let anyone take me…I'm trusting you. But this is why I feel it more imprtant than ever to find out who is working on this tech now to prevent that future from happening. I have afeeling…. my father may know who,." Taking a deep breath he offered to Billy shifting tone, "One thing at a time though. First we keep your head from being tapped into. I was serious. I really am not okay with someone pulling your strings, man."
That nod looks like Billy is hit by a physical blow, and he closes his eyes. "I hoped I remembered wrong, that what I remembered— the government turning on all of us, something called Sentinel— was wrong. I don't know anything else, not when, not what Sentinel _is_, only that Sentinel will be the turning point where we begin to lose the future. I warned the Director about it, she promised that SHIELD would oppose it if it happens and…" He looks to Kaleb, "I'm not okay with it either, I can put up a mindward if I know its going to happen, but not permanently."
Kaleb took a deep rbeath and looked ceilingward nodding a bit. Kaleb always heard everything, but this was hte smallest gesture that he was paying attention. "My fmaily… builds government facilities. We built the Pentagon in the 40's and also a ton of bunkers and facilities and things around the globe. Military takes care of top secret bases in house but a lot of the non-military government buildings around the globe? That's Capstone…" Taking a deep rbeath he wondered out loud, "Daaaaad what are you getting us into?" Looking back to Billy Mutant Twin #2 nodded. "Well then… we will have to tell them no. Repeatedly. Until they understand. You and I and whoever will follow." Mulling it over in his head he switched gears, "On a very important note? I'll wear hte uniform thing if it comes in black white or grey. I ahve a colour pallet and standards. Also I wan tto look into finding a helmet like mine or tin foil for your head. I'm working with a telepath at school to figure out some sort of shielding for you. In the mean time to be fair… you're also kinda open to hypnosis aslo so I'm going to work on this too even if it's a request to belay all other requests."
"Well, you have to talk to Noh about that." Billy shakes his head, "I don't need a helmet, if I know or expect I should wear a helmet, I can put a mind ward up. What concerns me is I can't have it on 24/7. What if I'm asleep? Now, dad warded the heck out of my apartment, telepathy and mind magic is flat out no longer possible within its confines, but what if I'm sleeping over at someone elses apartment? I can't just have a helmet on all the time. My _hair_."
Kaleb looked to Billy like SOMEONE FINALLY GETS IT! Pained he let out a slow breath with a rueful shake of his head, "When I… blew out my hearing last summer and had to sleep in teh helmet Maximus made for me? I fifn't think my part would ever recover. I swear they think I am making this up. See you get it. The struggle is real. Good news is if it comes to that I have a fix for that. I figured one out, but there's like… maybe a circlet or somehting that doesn't touch the hair. I'm looking into it man." Style: the most important of Mazlow's hierarchy of needs.