riverviewlogs | i'm bigger than my body [open & closed]

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i'm bigger than my body [open & closed]

who: John Proudtar + Shigeru Miyata, Minsu Oh, Cisco Ramon, and anyone
what: Catch-all
when: throughout march
where: various places, mainly the perimeter guard training grounds
warnings: none that I can think of! Will update if necessary

i. meditate (open to all)

[ Since putting his training offers out on the Quarantine network, John has been putting up dates and times and locations for 'classes' - he hates calling them as such, but if the shoe fits.

There's nothing special about the spot he's chosen - it's by the river, shadowed by some trees, pleasant and quiet. John's sitting straight on the ground, cross-legged, as he waits for any 'student' who might be interested in learning about meditation. He's prepared to fight stereotypes, remembering Lorna's reaction the first time she saw him practicing, how surprised she'd been, how long she'd teased him for it after.

John waits, until a few people are seated in front of him, before he says anything. ]

Before we start, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. The goal here is to get some tools for you to center yourself if you ever feel like control, or your sense of self is slipping. Meditation is what we make it out to be - contrary to popular belief, it isn't about sitting on a rock for days at a time, humming to yourself, although you're welcome to do that, if it works for you.

[ John smiles. This should be fun. ]

We're going to start much smaller, here.

ii. combat (open to all)

[ Come one, come all, whoever is interested in trying to test themselves against that mutant who can't get hurt. He'll take your punches and will try to give pointers wherever he can - he is, after all, an ex-Marine himself, and has seen combat situation more than once.

Depending on who's here to train and who's interested in helping, there are several stations set up in the Perimeter Guards training grounds - one, large and further away than the rest, for those who want to try out their powers but might struggle with control, or simply have a huge range. One for hand-to-hand combat, with dummies and training equipment strewn around. One for swordfighting - the weapons are blunt. John's walking around between the different stations, helping out wherever he can, and learning, himself - he's never held a sword before, after all.

Come and train, fight, help out, or whatever else you want to do! ]

iii. wildcard

[ Closed starters in comments! Find me at ellievolia if you want a specific starter, or just hmu with anything, I'm happy with basically anything. ]

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[ He shrugs, not exactly self-deprecating. He does what he can, and he knows he has a knack for helping people settle in. He's been doing it extensively in recent memories, keeping tensions as low as possible when the Underground grew to the size of a powder keg. ]

Yeah, definitely. And I'm probably going to take some time out to go and look around, anyway, when I can. I don't want to feel like I'm getting complacent.

[ He knows it's a thing people do, and John has been here barely a month and he's already itching to get a group of people together and go off on a little exploratory mission. ]

Oh yeah?

[Shalimar doesn't even try to hide the interest apparent in her response. She too knows how risky it is to let complacency take hold but more to the point, knowing her territory goes a long way and especially if she's to look for missing people, knowing the likely hotspots couldn't hurt.]

Let me know when you get on that. Could do with taking a look outside city walls myself.

[And while she's quite happy to do that solo, it doesn't hurt to have competent company with her either.]

Sure, [ he replies easily, nodding. Although he feels like she might get the opportunity before he does, he'll never turn away someone who wants to help. That's been his stance for far too long to change now. ]

Is that what you do, back home? You fight?

That's part of it, yeah.

[And probably one of her main roles; for all each member of Mutant X has their own means of fighting, Shalimar's usually one of the first into the fray.

She pauses a moment, then, sizing him up as she decides how much more to elaborate on that.]

I'm part of a group that deals with protecting people who aren't so different than me. Or, sometimes, protecting people from people who aren't so different than me. Sometimes even both.

[She's not ashamed to expand on that, but she at least wants to gauge what the reaction might be first.]

[ Her words, explaining what she does, strike a chord. It's exactly the same as what John does, in vague terms. ]

Yeah? That's - exactly what I do, too.

[ He smiles, one side lifting higher than the other. ]

Back home, people like me are being pretty much chased out of society, so I'm trying to give them a safe place to go to. Trying to make things better for me and mine, too.

Yeah? Can't say I don't understand that. People can be pretty funny about people who are that little bit different to them.

[She pauses, then, looking him over as though weighing up the next question before she smiles a little.]

I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.

[Only one way to find out if she's making the right assumptions, right?]

[ He chuckles, nodding as he leans his arm on the dummy's shoulder. He's never really had a desire to hide what he is, and especially not here. If someone like Clarice isn't even afforded the luxury of pretending she is 'just' human, John shouldn't either. ]

I'm a Mutant. I've got... abilities, and back home, some branches of the government is trying to either put us in cells, or use us and our abilities, or just. Treat us like terrorists. So I'm heading this Underground cell, that serves as a safe place for any Mutant that could need it.

[Mutant. Well that explains a lot, and it's evident in her expression as she listens that nothing of this is particularly new to her.]

Sounds a lot like the world I know. A little more dealing with the mutants who give us a bad name than it sounds like you're dealing with but it's better than where I used to be so I'm not complaining.

[And really, she's not cut out for a more regular career path so this all suits her just fine.]

So what's your type? I already know you're not another feral and I haven't seen anything elemental so far.

[Not that she expects every world to categorise as she's been led to understand mutancy but it's somewhere to start.]

Oh, we’ve got some of those too. Some Mutants wanting to assert dominance over the human race.

[ If it shows on his face that he is still reeling from the betrayals he’s recently suffered because of the Brotherhood and the Frost sisters, he can’t help it. He’s not very good at hiding it, either. John looks away for a second, before raising an eyebrow at her question. He’s never really been one to categorise in this way, but it makes sense for a lot of Mutants. ]

Um, physical, I guess? I’m pretty much indestructible. And very strong.

[Shalimar notices that there's something more being unsaid but she's not about to push the matter. She wouldn't appreciate someone prying into her business and there's no reason to push him on what might be distracting him unless it proves to be relevant.]

Huh. Guess you lucked out there. Though I guess it's hard not to get a little reckless when nothing's really slowing you down.

[She's more intrigued than chiding - it's probably better for everyone that she doesn't have anything like that, because she's impulsive enough as it is.]

Yeah, I did. And I’m lucky that I’m more of a planner than an impulsive mind, otherwise things could get messy, considering what I do. People need me to settle squabbles more than they do my barging through walls headfirst.

[ Even if that does come in handy, sometimes. ]

Where I lucked out the most is that I looked completely normal. Human. Plenty of Mutants don’t get that chance.

Worked out better than it would if I'd ended up with something like that, then. Though it's not like I really know how much of who I am is who I'd always have been and how much is the feline DNA kicking in.

[If she talks about that, she doesn't have to talk about how he's reminding her a little of Jesse. This is the longest she's gone without at least speaking to Jesse but thinking about that isn't going to help her.]

Yeah? I guess it's different if the mutancy isn't a result of human experimentation. It's rare I've run into even another feral that couldn't pass for normal.

When did your powers kick in?

[ John had been a teenager. It'd been so good to be able to lord them over James, if only for the few years before James's own started manifesting too. ]

Have you met Clarice, yet? She comes from the same place I do. But she was unable to pass for human, back home, and as a result, the world has been... brutal, to her.

[ Which makes him angry in more ways than he can tell, but that's none of Shalimar's concern. ]

I don't really remember. At least, I don't really remember a time when I didn't have them.

[Not to say she always understood what they were but then she doesn't care to think much on her childhood either way.

Which means she doesn't even have to try to let her sympathy show when he mentions a mutant less able to hide.]

I don't think I've had the pleasure. But I wish I could say that surprises me. Some people's mindsets are pretty narrow when it comes to people who are different to them.

[A lot of people, in her opinion, but she's trying to let only a little of the cynicism show for now.]

Uh. Interesting. Back home, usually powers kick in during adolescence. Strong feelings and events tend to trigger them.

[ Fear, anger, stress. Nothing exactly surprising, to him. ]

Yeah, you can say that again. Most of us just want to lie our lives, you know? But here we are, having to fight for our lives and our rights. Some of us fighting for the right to even walk the street.

Well, it's different for everyone. I guess in my case, there was no getting around the animal DNA, powers or no powers. But then, that's not a time I care to think about anyway.

[Because she's no stranger to the rest of what he says, either.]

I hear that. Back home, we even had a news service dedicated to calling out all the weird things going on. And an agency specifically dedicated to capturing New Mutants. Don't think I need to tell you the headaches that combo's caused on more than one occasion.

[Safe to say she does not miss Proxy Blue in the slightest.]

We have a government agency dedicated to chasing us, too. And since Mutants are known, anything something happens, the fingers are pointing straight at us. And Sentinel Services are more of an 'arrest now, ask questions, maybe, later' kind of agency.

[ He does not miss Sentinel Services, himself, that's for sure. ]

I still feel like I can't quite stop looking over my shoulder, even here.

I wish I could say that doesn't sound familiar. Though I guess the GSA have a personal interest in making sure those of us who aren't working for them disappear.

[Leave it to a corporation to want to cover up anything that might lead to them getting a bad reputation.]

But if we're lucky, that should get easier with time. I know it takes some time between knowing you're in a safer place and believing it.

[She'd been there, back when she first joined Mutant X. It had taken her some time after that to accept that she was in a much safer position than she had ben, even where that safer position put her in direct conflict with the GSA's aims.]

Sentinel Services are apparently working with a research corporation that's looking into using our powers against us, so. That's something we've got to contend with.

[ He grimaces, looking down at his feet. ]

Basically, I guess what I'm saying is that I get where you're coming from. Seems like we've got some pretty similar situations, back home.

Sounds like it. Make us useful, wipe us out or turn us into lab rats. It's almost like the idea of letting us get on with life like everyone else never occurred to them.

[The reasons might be different but leave it to scientists to want to meddle with what they don't understand and hang the consequences for the people involved. That much, she understands all too well.]

Guess that explains why people like us are so likely to wind up in a place like this.

I like to think they tried, with us.

[ But then, 7/15 happened, and things had changed. People who had treated John and his peers with respect before - or at least, some respect - turned their backs on him. The government turned their backs on Mutants. ]

But it's always been like sitting on a powder keg. One spark, that's all it takes. Like everyone is just waiting for that one second where everything tips into chaos. That happened in 2013, for us. After that... it's never been the same. They suddenly had excuses to treat us all like pariahs.

I guess that makes sense. In our case I think it was more trying to hide that they'd made something they couldn't control as well as they'd like.

[She doesn't know the full details and she doesn't care to, but it's been clear enough over the years what the main problem Genomex has had with New Mutants has been, at least as far as she's concerned.]

Still, if things turned that quickly then people were looking for an excuse all along. At least, that's what I tend to find.

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