Half an Hour to Arrival/Character Generation II:
The bus suddenly came to a screeching halt on the side of the road, jumbling everyone up and down like popcorn for a few brief seconds. It was at a scheduled stop, but the driver didn't open the doors for the three college age kids waiting outside in the ninety degree heat. Indeed, the bus goes from passengers standing up and gathering their belongings to prepare to disembark, to murmuring and moaning, with one heavy set woman getting up and going to the drivers seat to complain to the driver, while a lithe man and woman, probably a married couple given their twin wedding rings and bearing, try and open the door. The driver barks something at the woman and she slowly makes her way back to her seat, wobbling past you, red in the face and whispering curses to herself. As time dragged on, more and more people started reacting to her. Meanwhile, the man stood in his seat, listening to muffled instructions from his radio-set. If you were slightly closer, you were sure you would hear both of them and know what's going on.
Finally the driver slams his radio down, and takes a long deep breath and gets up. He unlocks the door, but not before raising a hand. "Unless you're stopping at our next stop and have a virtual or physical letter naming it, I'm going to have to ask you to leave at our next stop. That includes you three out there."
An old, bald African American man whose head resembled a boiled egg, gets up. "What? My grandson's house is over two and a half hours away…."
"We have already called a taxi and refunded your bus ticket. Sorry...this is for safety reasons." The bus driver says, apologetically. He took the hat he had been wearing, a one of those uniform, navy blue outside of the checkered white and black boxes just above the rim. I'll wait until it arrives, sir."
"Safety reasons?" The chubby woman asks, though mostly to herself. She puts a finger to her chin. "Oh, wait?!? Is that the new mutant school their opening up? Don't tell me, more maniacs threatened to blow it up."
The bus driver nodded gravely. "Again, apologies for the last minute change, but the Xavier Institute's latest threat was more credible than the last one."
The woman of the slender couple, her turning around, told you she was Asian now, curled her lip in a frown. "If you ask me, it's the mutants we should be more afraid of."
"Well, we're not." The heavy woman says, with more than a hint of anger. "So just get out already, that the rest of us have places to be…"
"Wait!" Her husband says, a Latino man with the slightest accent. "That means we've been on the bus with gene fr-Mutants, this entire time."
Well, at least he caught himself. The grumpy house wife frowns, but the black, egg like man gets up again. Despite his age, he practically leaps up. Grabbing his cane, and a worn duffle bag that had seen plenty of use and would probably see some more, he marches to the door and the couple who suddenly seemed glued to bus. They saw him coming, and stayed put mostly, shuffling in their spots in obvious growing indignation. Lifting his cane like a saber, he points the four prong thing at the man first, jutting just an inch from his face and than even more quickly away and towards his wife. Both scoot back and actually fall off the bus. You have to fight to suppress a bolt of laughter, while the a few others on the bus fail to do this.
The old man smiles, revealing a nice set of pearl white dentures. "Now don't like the door hit your ass on the way out. Come on children, watch your step over there." He pointed to the couple on their asses, on the pavement below. "Hate for you kids to mess up your shoes."
The couple grumbles, and instead of fighting or arguing though, just storm off. The old man turns, no doubt intending to get back to his seat, but does so a little too sharply and pep in his step. He twists his ankle, and begins to fall down to the floor below. It happens in slow mo to you, and more than a few passengers as well given their raising screams anticipating what is going to happen. Distance and luck play in both your favors though; it takes you a fraction of a fraction of a second to get out of your seat. Reflexively, as easily as breathing, you reach out and tap the man. His cane scatters across the bus's narrow floor, almost entirely in fact, before you feel an odd vibration hear your ear and a soft hum, and it suddenly halts and straights out. The old man blinks for a moment, looking down towards the floor he was hovering over, and then gently up and only exerting his gaze to the end of the it, instead of at the roof. You step forward, to help redirect the man and get him back on his feet, but a towering and muscle clad white dude did so, as easily and nonchalantly as picking a rose, despite you having dis activating your powers as on accident in response to their sudden movement. A green haired woman flicks her wrist, and the cane flies slowly to the man, hovering in the air until he grabs it. A warm smile spreads across his face.
"Ha! You three young bloods are all right," he exclaims, giving your faces a once over. "Didn't expect to be saved by superheroes again, now that I'm an old bag of bones, but I guess life is full of surprises huh?"
"It was not hard." The giant white dude says, thick Russian accent making his awkward words even harder to understand. Dear god, he must have been what...way over seven feet tall. His bisceps were bigger than your head, and his hands were as big as sledgehammers. He looked like the heavy in a James Bond film or something. "Anyone would do it."
"Not in such style though," the old man laughs. "This one is going to blow my grandson's mind away, ha!"
The Russian man sets him down gently to the floor, and he makes his way back to his seat to get his things, not retrieved by the woman with the mesh top revealing her belly piercings and sports bra, who carefully handed it to the man. Now that you had a little better look at her, you knew for sure her makeup was applied in a goth like style: pale face and mascara across the eyes heavily with midnight black lipstick. She also had a streak, kind of like a skunk stripe, of white across her bangs. He grabbed it with a friendly nod, but the old man clearly though her get up was a little ridiculous, and the smile on his face looked like he was going to burst out laughing. Then he turned around and left with the heavyset woman, and about seven other passengers who had kept quiet during all this. The blob man, the girl with the mesh top, the blue elf, and two others stay were they were though.
"I feel like my heart decide to become race car driver for a second," the Russian says, his grin reaching his ears. He didn't look like an action movie thug when he did that. "You moved very quickly, thank heavens you were here."
"Please I didn't do much," you say, almost blushing and rubbing the back of your head. "I barely did anything."
"None of us did, but you did it when it needed it to be done." The green haired woman states. And that was what she was. She obviously wasn't in her thirties, but looked past her college years, unless she was getting a post graduate degree of some sort. "Telekinesis?"
"Gravity manipulation." You answer, sheepishly. "I'm guessing you have magnetic powers."
"Forget powers. Names!" The raven haired, tall Ruskie says, still beaming that charming smile of his. "I am Piotr Rasputin! How about you two?"
"Lora Dane," she says, offering a hand to both of you. She's wincing a bit after shaking Pitor's and you decide to make yours very light and brief.
"Matthew Manson." You answer, uneasily as both take your hand, one after the other. You wince a bit yourself. Damn, Piotr's grip was like a vice!
The bus driver looks over, "Hey guys, we're going to be leaving as soon as the man's taxi arrives, so why don't you take your seats. In fact...everyone, next stop is Xavier's Institute for the Gifted. Thirty minutes or so until arrival. Gather your things up, uh we are of course a trustworthy company and stuff, but our lost and found is useless."
With that almost everyone there moves around a bit; either just to get themselves in a comfortable position or to get their possessions together like the bus driver suggested. A few moved from the back, up closer towards the front. The blue elf man and the pink mass for example, while the goth girl, got her suitcase up to the seat across where yours was. Both Lora and Piotr stepped back out to get there things, while the third red haired man strutted in right past them whistling, and knocking Laura across the shoulder without even the slightest apology.
[ ] Help Lora with her suitcase and stuff, she had packed a LOT of things, and it looked like it was going to take awhile. [Farm Strong Trait Gained; talk to Lora as you arrive to the Xavier Institute]
[ ] Shoot the shit with Piotr in Russian! You kinda of needed the practice [Picks Up Languages Like Coins Trait Gained. Talk with Piotr]
[ ] Get the Goth Girl her purse, and tell her that she dropped it...and maybe get to know her a bit. Totally just friendly and normal conversation [Prince Charming Trait Gained and talk to Rogue on your way to the Xavier Institute]
[ ] Head closer in back to the Elf and Pink wax guy, and try and chat them up. You knew what it was like to be an outsider and the class outcast. It wasn't fun [Gain Softie and talk to Kurt and Herman on your way to there]
Matthew Manson and Gravity Manipulation win. Technopathy though is interesting and you'll have a chance to develop a secondary mutation thanks to your X-Focused trait, later in the thread
