Players:
Summary: Jennifer comes to visit the ARMS. She offers them… something new.
Date: February 13, 2010
Of Brothers and Barnes
Rating: PG
Other than wandering back in largely fried a couple of weeks ago, Najji hasn't stirred much from their 'acquired' apartment. He still is hazy on the details of how it was acquired but they have shelter and a few reasonably usable hard points and escape routes. It serves. At the moment, he's trying to focus and center and get the sensory overload of the early 21st century out of his head. Especially hard to do when at least one of his siblings is far too fond of the television. He's dressed simply in second-hand clothing picked to be durable and allow him to move and is sitting in a half-lotus on the floor with his back against the door of the apartment. It's his favorite spot and position. Covering the exit while being able to monitor when the other ARMS enter and leave and their positions in the apartment. Being like water, he's thinking, is a lot easier when there are fewer things to ripple the surface.
Shiro himself is sitting, curled up, almost bonelessly with a book in his hands. A particular book that's known rather well amongst the people that know him INside. Utopia. He's reading away, softly, just ignoring anything going on around him. He loves reading it, even though he knows it back and forth.
In a chair by the window is Quintessa, and for the last hour she's just been staring outside. It's a mix of trying to learn what's going on, being a look out and just being bored. She doesn't remember her old life but she feels like daily life is dull, there's something missing. "Everything seems too…quiet." She says eventually. Now that the demons are gone daily life has gone back to what it's used to. There's a gun in her hands that she's absentmindedly playing with, the ammo cartridge sits on the table next to her.
For those whose hearing is more advanced than that of mere mortal men can hear the throaty rumble of Jennifer's sports car coming from a mile away. She pulls up into an empty parking spot next to the apartment, the noise of the engine dying when she turns it off, accompanied by the ratcheting sound of the parking brake being pulled into place. She steps out of the car looking like the mild mannered defense attorney that Jennifer Walters is (complete with briefcase) instead of the seven foot tall green giantess. Without much ado, she walks up to the ARMS' apartment and knocks on the door.
Najji heard the footsteps coming down the hall and recognizes the scene of the green-skinned 'not-mutant' before he opens the door. Which is why he doesn't open it with a sledgehammer made of force. He looks towards his siblings and arches an eyebrow but doesn't announce who it is. They should know, by sense or logic. Opening the door and looking left and right just to be sure she's not escorting a troop of scent-masked attackers (what? It /could/ happen!), Naj stands aside and nods. "Enter."
As he hears the footsteps, Shiro's first response is to meld in with the scenery where he sits. Blending himself naturally into it. He sits there, waiting silently. Nothing to say or do, he just waits.
Quintessa actually watched She-Hulk come from outside and counted the seconds under her breath before she heard the knock. She turns around in the chair and watches, but there's a slight smile that might be forming on her lips. Maybe she has word of their brother? "Hello She-Hulk." She offers in a formal greeting.
"Hello, kids," she says cheerily when the door opens, a stark contrast to the seriousness inside the room. "Thank you, Najji" she says when she steps through the door, heading straight for the dining room table, setting her briefcase down on it. "I've got some news for you, about your brother. I've also got an offer that was brought to my attention that the three of your should consider." She pulls out a chair for herself, sitting in it so she faces the three of them. "Which would you like to hear first?"
Najji closes the door behind Jennifer and says, immediately, "Our brother." He looks towards Shiro and then says, "If she's located him, we need exfiltration and extraction plans for returning home, don't we?" Which is his way of saying, 'You /do/ still have a plan, right?' The mention of the offer is interesting, but it's not the primary mission.
"Brother." Shiro says, as loudly as is possible from his silent aura. After all, that's what they're doing their. Three's welfare is exceptionally important to them all. He closes his book. It would have thumped had the sound been able to eke it's way out. He turns in the chair, becoming visible fully again, and looks to She-Hulk. He HAS learned a few manners, though. "Please." He adds. Though, it's not stated politely, merely efficiently. Shiro says nothing in response to Najji. After all, the plans vaporized in the return trip. It wasn't as tough as their bodies. And Shiro… simply can't remember it.
Quintessa nods and leans forward anxiously. "Yes, our brother is our main objective right now, anything else can wait." She holds her gun tight in both her hands she's anxious to hear the news. "Just tell me where I have to go and then we can figure out a way home."
Jennifer looks at the three siblings and purses her lips. "Well, I did find him," she says, and immediately holds up a hand before anybody can interrupt with questions. "But there are a few things that you have to understand. Firstly, he doesn't remember you. Secondly, where he's at, he's there by his own free will, and he's happy there. Thirdly, he's safe where he's at." She lets that sink in for a moment.
Najji ponders that for a moment and then shrugs. "We're a unit. The unit functions better when complete." Hm. "All of us seem to have memory problems." And then he looks to Shiro, since he's the thinker out of the three of them. His lifted eyebrows and neutral expression convey the idea that he's ready for instructions and willing to follow them. Within reason.
"Sans memories, he cannot function with is, Najji. Memory loss is tricky. From what I've learned on my own memory loss, it will either return or it won't. In it's own time. We should visit him. At some point. And see if he remembers. If not, we simply wait." Shiro states with a wise nod. This came from discussions with someone on the street. Where else to ask? Surely there's not somewhere that has lots of books available.
Quintessa follows what Shrio is saying, but he agrees with Najji. "I'll do whatever you guys tell me to do but we're here for our brother right? Isn't that why we came here?" Just to make sure and also she knows her opinion isn't important so she doesn't say it. She's not the leader, Shiro is the one giving orders, she'll follow that. After all she trusts her brothers. "So for now, just wait?"
Jennifer nods approvingly at Shiro's assessment. "I'll do what I can to arrange something for the four of you to meet. But," she says, laying her briefcase flat and snapping it open. "staying here and waiting around isn't much of an option either." She lifts the lid and takes out three brochures for the newly created Barnes academy, and hands one to each of the ARMS while she talks. "We don't know when, or even if, you'll be able to get back to your time, so it's best to prepare for the worst: You're stuck here. You're not old enough by society's standards to really be wandering around on your own. You're not even technically citizens, yet. This is a school. Not like the one your brother ended up with. This one is more military, closer to what you're used to, and designed for people who have special abilities to train. I've been…" and here she pauses trying to delicately frame the pressure Nick Fury has laid on her about these three (she's still not sure how he found out. Damn that man.) "… strongly encouraged to get you enrolled."
Najji blinks at Shiro and frowns. "Sooner rather than later. First hand intelligence is better than field assets." He glances aside at She-Hulk. "No offense." The rest of the offer seems intriguing. "Military? With security protocols? And structure? A command chain? And more training? And …." He glances towards Shiro and Tess and blushes faintly, shutting up. He may not be able to remember his past clearly but he knows that the idea of being in a military environment provokes a feeling that if he were allowed to examine his feelings he'd have to call 'homesickness'. But the needs of the unit come first.
Shiro reaches for one of the pamphlets. There are words on it. He begins perusing very rapidly. "Yes. This seems adequate. Will they be able to provide us with civilian identities for your world? Ensure our ability to assimilate seemlessly? People tend to be… frightened of us. We are… abnormal." He states, easily. He IS the thinker.He notices. "And, we cannot live on bartered housing and food forever, regardless of what Mr. Siegfried might wish." Yep. That's his apartment.
Quintessa takes a pamphlet and reads slowly, her finger moving under the words she's reading. "School? That I'll be able to train with." Her eyes light up as she reads, her mouth motioning the words. "Will I be able to practice with my firearms there?" She reads as much as possible and like a little kid she says, "If you guys go, I'll go."
If anything, Jennifer looks relieved at their reaction and eagerness to attend the academy. "From what I understand you'll be given civilian identities. If they like you they might even give you military ones. And yes. You'll be given uniforms, and formal training for your powers, and weapons, as well as training to know when /not/ to use them." She sighs, and pulls out another sheaf of papers. "Okay. There's a few more legal things we need to go through in order to get you there, but if you're all agreeable, we can get you on base by the end of next week…."
