2009-07-15: That Which Stands Against

Players:

Addison_icon.jpg Ayame_icon.jpg Ben_icon.jpg Christopher_icon.jpg Cid_icon.jpg Cole_icon.jpg Daisuke_icon.jpg Danny_icon.jpg Dante_icon.jpg Darrell_icon.jpg Dmitri_icon.jpg Eddie_icon.jpg Izzy_icon.jpg Jared_icon.jpg Jessica_icon.jpg Jordan_icon.jpg Julio_icon.jpg Kaden_icon.jpg Kalindi_icon.jpg Keith_icon.jpg Keld_icon.jpg Kenta_icon.jpg Owen_icon.jpg Paul_icon.jpg Pudge_icon.jpg Ricky_icon.jpg Robin_icon.jpg Robyn_icon.jpg Roy_icon.jpg Sam_icon.jpg Siegfried_icon.jpg Stephen_icon.jpg Terry_icon.jpg Tim_icon.jpg Uatu_icon.jpg Wyatt_icon.jpg

Summary: The Watcher considers Adversity.

Date: July 15, 2009

That Which Stands Against

Rating: PG


Many Locations across the Marvel Universe


A man stands on the moon, looking at the earth. His head is large. He wears a white and blue robe. He speaks in a deep, imposing voice.

My name is Uatu. I am the Watcher. My purpose is to watch events as they take place on earth. I am not permitted to interfere, no matter what. So, I watch. I notice. I pay attention to the details.

Across the world, people deal with things that they do not like. That which is averse to their being. Everyone has their own way of taking care of it. It's… intriguing. From those that are new to the planet,

The temptation was immense to treat this time on Terra, wait, they call it Earth. Don't they? Oh, human languages have so many redundant words, and this English is the worst of the lot, stealing a word hear… no, "here", it sounds the same and there's no frame-word to set it off, just context … anyway, breaking and entering for syntax from another language there, mugging yet another in an alley for participles, conquering a fourth and enslaving its vocabulary, it's a strange language and even stranger to learn it from a lawyer. Lawyer, now there's a concept. SO MUCH unpacking with each word. A person who is a warrior in the realm of the laws that guard the peace, that regulate them, and yet, there are four distinct major systems of law operating, and a fifth one for the military, and … dead-stop. Ow. Like falling off a mental cliff into nothing, when a knowledge-chain stops unpacking like that. Familiar enough, though. Keld has gone through it before when a mission required a skill-download.

The alien reaches for that momentary wisp of music again. He smiles, blinks. Sensation of being watched? But no danger, no malice. Probably nothing.

Well … whatever it is, it's no danger. Where was I? Keld considers. The real danger on this comfortable world is simply treating it like a place for prolonged R&R. Bad discipline, that. He decided, then. Either find and speak to the Spider-Woman, or find a place to be, where he is not imposing on, not in the way.

New together

THWIP!
A webline snags a gun away from a man in an apron before a little purple cannonball smacks into him. Nightshade lands, snapping the rifle in half and letting out a dual-voiced growl. A woman wearing a McDonalds uniform charges at the little oddity with what appears to be a katana only to have the sword grabbed and snapped in half just as easily as the rifle. She then ends up thrown at the Dunkin' Donuts man. Nightshade really doesn't understand why these people are attacking him but he'll break them like any other 'bad guy'.

Or new to this version of reality

"I will make these shields work." Addison says, staring at the wall in front of him. He's been working for months at this. He's been doing his best to hold it at bay, but the other minds are so much stronger here. After all, they haven't spent the past ten years or so alternately beat into submission. Finally, with enough concentration, he blocks out all other thoughts and heaves a sigh of relief. All thoughts, except those of one person. A soft smile crosses his features. "Brian." He whispers.

Each deals in his or her own way. Some see adversity there that does not exist and bring it to others.

"Wah!" Eddie yelps as he rolls behind a mailbox, glowing energy blades slicing into the sidewalk where he'd been only a moment ago.

"Aww. My little brother not so tough when his big, bad fairy family isn't around to protect him?" comes the voice of Eddie's now costumed biological brother Kevin, more blades already forming on his hands.

Eddie had just been trying to head to the comic shop but was attacked. Kevin'd apparently been waiting to ambush him. Eddie winces, glancing at the gash on his arm. He starts to reach for his pockets only to remember he buried the Goblin Gauntlets in the woods behind the school. "Oh this is so not good" Eddie trails off, wondering just how he's going to get out of this one.

And some respond to those that cause problems.

Art supplies in hand, Ricky heads towards the comic shop to get a surprise for his boyfriend. Unfortunately, said boyfriend is already over there. Said boyfriend… and someone else. A sneer crosses Ricky's face as he lifts himself from the ground, on waves of ionic energy as he extends a slapping hand across Kevin's face. "Flaming Body lost. Mutation: Solid Energy Weaponry. Recombination: Ionic Energy Weaponry." Ricky grins as he lands on the ground in a roll, coming up wielding a pair of hand axes, glowing purple and angry. "Now? What was that about a fairy family? Bitch?" He says, grinning. There's a new anger in him that wasn't there before. Perhaps a piece of personality came with the powers. He's already grandstanding, which was not one of his old traits…

The enslaved hold to their wits as best they can.

<I will be strong. I will be strong.> Cid mutters to himself as he tries to force himself not to let the emotions overwhelm him. In times of duress, he does the same thing every time. He begins praying. The Lord's prayer will suffice this time. It's the most appropriate thing. As before, his words come in German as he remains in place.

Robin tugs at the straps of her restraints as hard as she can. She knows that this won't work, that she is completely trapped. But it's certainly not the first time in her life that she has felt trapped and hopeless. From the compulsively repeated actions, she has tears in the skin under the restraints, worn away from the tugging and pulling. She bites her bottom lip and closes her eyes, just feeling the pain and trying to forget where she is.

Just lying on the exam table, because Robyn doesn’t have any other choice, a lot of things keep running through the young mutants mind. He’s one of the six mutants that’s been taken to be used as a source for MGH, mutant growth hormone. He’s not really a brave kid but he’s been trying to act it. As of yet, he hasn’t cried but he’s homesick, horribly homesick. Missing his Mom and Dad and boyfriend Jordan. He gives a countless tug on the bonds that hold him to the table and gets the expected results, nothing. Robyn starts to count in German in his head, just trying to keep from focusing on the bad, when two guards walk in, and without a word to Robyn inject him with something. After a while all his muscles relax and he finds it’s difficult to move much and that’s when the to guards drag him off to the examination room. The fear that grips Robyn is one he hasn’t felt as he’s honestly starting to fear that he’s going to die in this lab.

*Squeak* *Squeak* *Squeak* "You know, I bet this table would be much easier to push around if you kept the wheel properly oiled. If you want, I could even do it for you just hand me a can of WD-40 and loosen these restraints a little. Hello, I know your there I can hear you trying to think." Terrycloth Wyatt, known to most of his friends as Terry, prattled on as the table he was strapped too is wheeled from the holding center on to where ever he was being taken this time. "Look, I know they never hire minions like you for your brains but you could at least say something now and then, its creepy being wheeled around by a heavy breather. Or maybe a mint, if you won't talk to the poor helpless blind guy you could at least eat a few mints. I bet it would help your chances at getting girls, or boys, or farm animals…whichever it is your interested in." *Squeak* *Squeak* *Squeak* "Fine, suit yourself, be all quiet and creepy. When I get out I should look up the last guy that tied me up, I had a whole lot more fun with him than you guys." Nothing more to say the captive hero lapses into silence, counting the squeaks and working out in his mind the length of the hallway he is being wheeled down and the location of all the turns in it so he can have at least the start of a map in his head to use if he can escape.

While some unwilling captors work to free the others.

A smile creeps across the biochemist's face as he sees the results happening in his microscope. He's having to do these creations from his mind, rather than using programs to work them out. They appear successful. He won't have a chance to truly test them on the others, he's simply going to have to hope they'll accept them and hope they work. Either way, he's getting them out of there… soon. As he starts making six syringes, he labels each one with an individual color and sets them to the side. He looks through his own remaining ampules and nods. He'll be involved in this one. "Mess with a biochemist. And you get the explosion." he mutters.

Even those with less than high morals fight against things in their way.

The deal is going sour. It seems like this has happened a lot, lately, to Kalindi. While she isn't showing it on her face or in her body language, she is afraid. These three men with the guns and knives are intimidating to her, and they seem more interested in her jewellery than the promises of power she originally intended to make. Her calmness and precision in these situations, though, is what seems to keep her alive. The teen grabs hold of her powers, her eyes flashing eerie black, shimmering strands of gold reaching from her backpack quickly for the men's weapons to disarm them. "Are you prepared to discuss now?" she says with a grin.

Whether spiritual in nature, or simply because of differing points of belief.

Article in hand, Kage reads it for the countless time. Elizabeth Bradley. He thinks he should pay this woman a visit, let her know where she stands in the mutant/human war, on the bottom. She dare speak up against /him/ and /his/ race, well, that doesn’t fly, not with Kage. Standing up, glass of Pino Grigio in hand, he walks over to his bookcase and slides forward one specific book to reveal a hidden door, complete with handprint and retina scan required to get in. Hey, every super villian needs their ‘secret lab’. Stepping into his work room, Kage goes to his computer and starts to research where to find one Elizabeth Bradley. After finding some interesting information, a smile creaps onto his lips as he picks up one of his disposable cellphones and decides to give his acquaintance, Finesse, a call.

Or occasionally, because of problems dealing with the world around them.

"Dammit!" is followed quickly by a few curses in greek. Paul grabs a tissue to hold to his lip as he glares at the broken toothbrush in hand.

"Stupid, cheap piece of junk," he growls, tossing the sharp plastic stick into the trash bin. Of course his little added gravity boost makes the whole bathroom shake. Paul examines the small lip-wound in the mirror and then opens the cabinet to get another tooth brush. "Why do they keep breaking?" he growls, tearing into the packaging.

The greatest issue for some is learning. It can be learning from a book…*

"Sine of an angle is equal to the Opposite divided by the Hypotenuse, Cosine of the angle is equal to the adjacent divided by the Hypoteneuse, and Tan of the angle is equal to the opposite over the adjacent….Ok, but what the hell is a Hypotenuse?" Jared Stone, mutant healer and some time hero, throws himself backwards to lay on the bed in his room. "This stuff is worse than trying to find the value of freaking X!" The young mutant turns to look at his poster of Wonder Man to speak to him as if the poster were a real person, "You tell me, when will any of this stuff be of any use to me if I become a Doctor? Hmm? No answer for me? I thought so." With a sigh Jared grabs his study book again and reaches for a pencil and paper. "Not like I have a choice, but I am gonna learn this stuff if it kills me…."

learning socially…

"God Kaden you so stupid, it's easy anyone can figure it out, well I guess anyone but a brainless idiot." One of Kaden's classmates says to him while they're working in smaller groups of four. Even though it's the summer, Kaden's recently started his GED classes. Everyday, Monday through Friday, 8am to 3pm, and they aren't easy for the fire spirit. Not really having a proper education he's definitely behind and sometimes a bit slow. The teacher is at least understanding but the one kid in his class, Brett, won't stop giving him a hard time in regards to Kaden being slow. "Just shut up okay, before I make you shut up." He growls back and of course, Brett had to respond something about Kaden being a dimwitted block head. Kaden just can't hold it in anymore and his fist just clocked Brett right across the face, bloodying his classmates nose. There’s only so many times and so many ways one can be called stupid before they snapped and today was the day. Now he just has to go home and figure out how to tell Drew and Keith he got into a fight in class. He knows they know he has a short temper but he feels like he failed in curbing it. But punching Brett like that, it felt good and it’s worth the trouble he get into because of it.

Or other people's problems with learning.

Not to far from his parent’s apartment is a small park where parents tend to take their kids to play. Not surprisingly, Kenta is there watching his son Armande play with the other kids. He’s being good and refraining from smoking in an area with so many little ones. Not to far from the bench where he’s sitting to young mothers are gossiping going on and on about how men are horrible, irresponsible and could never handle raising a child on their own. Being a single father, Kenta can’t help but step in. “Excuse me, I’ll have you know I am a male, raising a son on my own. Just because you’re two bitter *** doesn’t mean that you’re superior than any man when it comes to parenting. God, people like you just piss me off.” He says before turning around so they can’t get a word in edgewise. He walks over to Armande to go push him on the swings for a bit.

Sometimes, it's even learning about oneself that can be the biggest problem.

Things are bothering Stephen and he doesn't understand it. He's been spending too much time around Pudge, or thinking about him. It's as though he can't get the weatherman out of his mind. Stephen has always known who he is and what he's doing. Every time something changes, he accepts it and moves on. But this time, his own mind is working against him with some of the things it's picturing. Could this be who he is? Could this be something new and good? Or is he setting himself up for failure? He looks down at his hands and sees the huge piece of chainmail he's put together in the past few minutes. Minutes? He's been thinking and letting his hands move for over an hour… and never realized it.

Or just learning to stay OUT of trouble.

It’s a good day for a rally at Bryant Park, and the Friends of Humanity decided to have one of their ‘Mutants are the Devil’ type soap box speeches in the park. People are milling around and some are definitely taking interest and eating up the speakers words. One person that is not, is Daisuke. His plan was to head into the city and pick up some art supplies, followed by a trip to Chinatown to surprise Jared with a bunch of Japanese candies. Hearing the cries against mutants, Daisuke gets a bit nervous and just keeps walking. A part of him wishes he could do something but he knows he’s just one against a larger group right now and figures it’s best to stay out of trouble.

Standing up for others is a learned trait. But even that can keep people on their toes, forcing them to find ways about it.

"Go! I got it!' Defense yells, arms projecting a shield above to stop falling rubble. Sweat rolls down his forehead and the member of Freedom Force coughs a bit. "Go!" he yells again. The firefighters in the burning building with him hesitate for a moment before gathering the people they had gone in to save and fleeing. Defense grits his teeth and continues trying to hold the roof up. Since it looks like no one's left, the hero prepares to leave. Just then, the sound of crying reaches his ears. Past a burning rack of sweaters, there's a baby stroller with it's wheels melted to the ground. Defense blinks before making his way over carefully. "You have got to be kidding me," he says, scooping the kid up and running for it as the building starts to crumble behind him.

Wearing his costume, the mute Young Avenger known as Silent Image, is out on patrol. His mind scanning the area for some sort of crime to be stopped when he picks up something. Someone’s thoughts that are scared, repetitive, crying out for help but expecting none. Heading over to that area, he notices a girl being beat on by two other girls, like a ghettotastik cat fight. He doesn’t know what’s going on but he knows he’s Silent Image superhero! Throwing up an illusion of dragon, a big green dragon with smoke coming from it’s mouth and large talons, behind the girl getting beat up while mentally speaking in the two attackers mind ~~LEAVE HER ALONE!~~ Between the voice in their heads and the dragon infront of them, the two girls flee. Once the victim is freed from her attackers, Dante goes over to see if he can help bandage her up and get her home safely. Being a superhero isn’t always about thwarting bank robberies and defeating supervillians, it’s also about being a good Samaritan and helping those in need.

Many times, the biggest obstacle to the life of one… is the life of another.

It was a tough day at work for Christopher, he just had one of those customers that was just mean and rude to put it lightly. He’s now distressing in the hot tub reflecting on how rude she was. The girl didn’t like the consultation, she didn’t like the hair cut, even though Christopher copied the picture after suggesting that a little bit more length would look better, she didn’t like the colour, everything she complained about when it was all her choice. Even though he suggested certain things would look better, she ignored him and of course it was all his fault in the end. She even had the nerve to say ‘It figures my haircut sucks, men can’t cut hair as good as a woman.’ A part of him just wanted to light blast her in the face right there but he knows he has to keep his calm. He even didn’t charge her for the haircut just to get her out of his salon. At least he can take comfort in the fact that she’ll never be a returning customer.

Whether they're standing in the way, or they're trying to help the other.

He's out searching the streets, trying to find any hint. But… Jordan's not good at this. Whether he admits it or not, he's just not that street smart. On the football field? Yeah, he knows the lay of the land. Out here? Not at all, but damnit, he's trying. He has to do what he can to figure out where Robyn is.

Philosophical issues can lead to blows.

It’s another night working at the bar, something Danny normally loves though there are those nights when the drunks come out and say the stupidest things. Right now there are two sitting in front of him, drunk out of their mind, arguing over mutant domination. Of course one keeps spouting ‘Magneto was right’ and the other is vehemently disagreeing. After a while the formula is inevitable, alcohol plus argument equals fists. Shortly after the fight breaks out, Danny leaps over the bar to break up the two super powered patrons, having to change forms to do so. After a bit of a fight between the three, Danny manages to throw the two out of the club before returning to the bar. “Ah reckon those two need to cool off.” He mutters as things start to get back to normal, downing a shot of vodka before waiting on the next patron with a smile.

"Get lost ya mutie-freak!" comes along with a chorus of curses and insults from the small mob of people. A few brandish weapons and one even tosses a moltov cocktail. Tim Olsen runs, the bottle exploding behind him and spreading flaming liquid all around. Leaving a trail of slime, the young Irish man heads as far away from the anti-mutant thugs he'd accidentally run into as he can. Right now all he can think about is getting home and hoping his housemate is there when he gets there.

Or where you are can stand in the way of what you want to be doing.

Sam’s gone back to Kentucky for the week to visit his Ma and siblings. There are times when he misses it down south and misses his family. Today though, isn’t one of those days. Paige doesn’t seem to want to stop arguing with him, he’s broken up countless fights with the twins and his sisters won’t stop teasing his brothers. Ah the life of a large family. He feels like he’s dealing with another day up at the school. “Ah came down here tah relax and right now, Ah feel just as stressed.” He admits to his mother though a part of him does feel bad the he can’t be around to help his single mother raise the family and be the man of the house.

Julio stops to catch his breath, cursing in Spanish as his train speeds away without him.

"Hey! Don't you know this station's Rolling Sevens' territory?" comes a voice from behind. Julio blinks and stands up quickly, looking behind himself. Three thugs in the orange and white colors of the local gang approach the vibratory mutant with various street weapons.

"Ya gotta pay a toll to get through here, punk," the apparent leader of the group adds. Julio just sighs and prepares himself for the inevitable fight. Oh to be back in New York…

There are times when Siegfried still has trouble communicating, after all he’s known English only a little over two years. Sometimes there’s still that language barrier. After taking a cab and having trouble communicating with the taxi driver, mainly because of the thick accent the driver possessed which make it very difficult for Siegfried to understand him. Once things were settled the cap driver proceeded to cuss Siegfried out the entire ride, complaining about immigrants, the lack of English and that they should just ** stay out of the Country until they learn to speak his langue. After this encounter it made Siegfried realize, for the countless time, how much he missed the way things were and how right now he could really use his friend Roy.

Closing his eyes was not helping. Even if he couldn't see that he is so high off the ground Dmitri could feel, and worst of all hear it. The wind blowing around him made the Earth mover think only of falling as he stood on the balcony of Keith's Penthouse in the Marc. His heart pounding in his chest Dmitri slowly tried to force himself to step forward, fighting his extreme fear of heights. "I have fought villains, monsters, gun wielding madmen. I will not be defeated by a little distance from the ground."

And when the greatest problem is something you don't know, or even know how to fight, some people lose their will. Others strengthen their resolve.

Time keeps on ticking… ticking… ticking. And Roy is getting no closer to a solution to their problem. "Why can there not be wizards listed in the phone book?" He asks with a sigh. "Someone with some knowledge of how to deal with demonic curses?" He rubs his nose as he decides to just start going from church to church to ask that way. If nothing else, maybe a priest can help. He is at a total loss.

Or when you're sent to face your own personal problems, whether you want to or not…

Spider-Woman, Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D agent. Having responsibilities in both doesn’t make for an easy. Nick Fury told her about a recent HYDRA operation he found out about but she has to wait. Jessica isn’t HYDRA’s biggest fan and the last thing she wants to do is play the waiting game. She blames HYDRA for a lot of things, and with reason which is why there is nothing more she wants to do than send a venom blast right in Madame Hyrda’s face. He first slams into one of the practice dummies as her foot quickly shoots up to meet another. The only way she can deal with her impatience in fighting HYRDA again is to train, train so that she can come out the victor, make them pay for using her all those years ago.

Do you stand tall, or do you back down?

"Yeah, Ah miss you too. Now put Ma on an' don' be pesterin' her no more, ya hear?" Owen Folger laughs a little as he lounges up in his room. Fuzzy due to recent teleport and just in his pajama pants, he'd called home to talk to his family. And since his little brother just handed off the phone, Owen was talking to his mother now.

"Ah know, Ma," a pause. "Naw, Ah'm still not in control of the thin' yet so Ah'm stickin' around. Gonna be workin' 'round the school and takin' some side classes," the Dark Force user speaks into the phone. He hops to his feet and starts to walk around the room. Hearing something his mother says brings a deep frown to Owen's face.

"Actually, Ma…" he sighs as he begins. "Ah was think' 'bout stayin' and goin' tah college," he explains, imagining the look on his mother's face. He pauses to listen and then sighs again.

"Ma…ya know ya'll don' really need me down there. There's more than enough of the others an' it's not like Ah won' come tah visit or…" he doesn't get to finish, cut off by the woman on the other side. Closing his eyes, Owen shakes his head.
"Alright, Ma. Ah know…love you too. Ah'll call again next week. Yes, Ma…alright…" he trails off, closing his cellphone. "That did not go well…"

Frivolous problems are even enough to make some people angry.

After a long phone call with his parents, Darrell is faced with one of those things he tries to ignore, responsibility. After years of freeloading on his friends and parents with minimal payback, it seems to have caught up. He found out that his parents will only pay half the student loans and the rest are on him. That means that Darrell actually has to get a job that pays well and takes up most of his free time. With a sigh, Darrell goes to the fridge and grabs a can of beer and mutters out loud. “Stupid jobs, gonna start cutting into all my free time.” And free time for Darrell means party time.

Especially when it's another person's frivolity.

Pen tapping on the table in front of him, Keith sighs. Across the table, the same frizzy artist is restarting her presentation for the fifth time. The wind spirit glances out the window at the clear blue sky he wishes he were flying through and wonders why its so hard to find an artist to do design work for his upcoming store.

"Look. Missfrizzy-hair-artist lady. Ya got thirty seconds to just show me your designs before I personally kick you out. I don't need a speech about what schools you went to, just to see if the designs are what I want," he eventually loses his temper. Keith arches both eyebrows expectantly as the woman opens her mouth to say something. He just ends up sighing as the woman faints.

"Why?" Keith asks the ceiling. "Just why?"

Regardless, it is human nature to find a way to do something about their problems, real or imagined. Whether people feel them to be small and silly or more than others do, the adversity exists, and will not go away until it's dealt with.

After a long ‘conversation’ with his boss, Pudge is left none to happy. It seems the network isn’t keen on having a Weatherman refer to himself as Pudge and want them to use his legal name. To him, that’s almost worse. There are people who don’t even know his real name, he tries to hide it, he hates his real name: Gale. It’s a horrible name for a man. So what if it was his Great-Grandfather’s name, he hates it. Stepping outside to the street, Pudge looks up to the sky and mutters something quietly under his breath. In a few moments the sunny sky darkens and it starts to pour out. Pudge just looks to the sky and lets the rain wash over him, trying to let his frustrations wash away with it.

Those that do not deal with them… will continue dealing with them in their dreams. And when dreamers have problems, what can they do?

The nightmares return, as always. Snapping to full wakefulness, Ben rolls out of bed, clad in his boxers and a tank top. Grabbing the swords that rest by his bed he walks up to the roof and begins moving. The only way to banish these nightmares, these things that prevent him from sleeping or from living normally, is to let the images from them play through. He doesn't like it, but that's what he does. As his body moves, his mind relaxes, letting things happen around him.

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