Back In Town (OPEN)

[Deleted]

Toad --
todd mortimer tolensky // founding member of the brotherhood of evil

Todd walked through the lobby of his current hotel , for once thankful for the decades of being in the shadows that had sapped his notoriety - if anyone recognized him from his Brotherhood days, they never said anything about it. Which meant he got the relative normalcy of staying at a hotel for more than a day or two - the current one he'd been renting a room in for a week. The staff clearly knew he was a mutant - not much credit to them, though, he figured; a blind man could tell that - and wondered why he stayed in the hotel; almost every time he went past the front desk, he got unsubtle questions about what he was doing in town, which of course really meant 'what are you doing in the hotel where I work?'. He sidestepped the questions, said he was there on business, catching up with some old friends.

And, oh, once he got a team together, those do-good X-Men wouldn't know what hit them. But nobody from the old days was in New York anymore - or they were staying out of Toads' way. That meant he needed new recruits, fresh and young - and that he'd need to train them, which he couldn't do in a second-rate hotel. He'd hopped around the city enough to know where all the hot spots were - or used to be, as he hadn't had time to go back to the city since M Day; cut down to little under two hundred mutants, that had left the mutant scene withered and dying. But with more and more mutants being born and growing up in the decade since he'd given up super-villainy, Toad knew there just had to be some rebels who only needed a cause and an excuse out there.

Chuckling to himself, the thirty-something opened the doors and stepped onto the sidewalk, taking a moment to stand still and soak in the sun.

word count: 320

[Deleted]

G I G A B Y T E
> > sierra parker

Sierra ignored the flower vendor that was hawking his wares, roses of reds, pinks, whites, and yellows for the upcoming holiday. Her heeled boots gave sharp clicks to the sidewalks as fast as she dared; it would not do anything for her dignity and pride if she slipped on the winter's ice.

Valentine's Day was annoying to her, always had been, ever since she was forced to give out little cartoon cards to her classmates years ago back in grade school. Sure, there had been a few friends that she didn't mind sharing chocolate with, but when she had been told that the boy who had dipped her hair in glue in first grade needed a valentine as well, she did not want to participate any longer.

The Institute wasn't doing much for the holiday, thank goodness. Students and teachers alike, of course, were allowed to pass out valentines, but it was to be discreet; not everyone enjoyed the holiday. Willow Foster was most excited about the chocolate, of course. The sophomore had barricaded herself in the kitchen for most of the past weekend, concocting cookies, cupcakes, and brownies for everyone in the school. Sierra was sure that her pantsuit felt a little snug due to the desserts, but she couldn't find herself to be too annoyed. She'd work it out in a couple of sessions in the Danger Room.

Sierra's mind refocused on her destination, her feet marching her in the general direction where she had parked her car. Glancing down at the bags on her arms, Sierra went through her mental list, checking off that she had bought the supplies she had needed.

Boxes of pens, in blue and red ink, a planner for the new classes and additional students that were arriving, another journal since her current one is almost filled, a combination wrench and a box-end wrench for when a student breaks something that needs to be repaired--

Not looking where she was going, Sierra bumped into someone in front of one of the hotels on the block, and her thoughts cut themselves off. Her bag of pens dropped, the box of blue-inked ones opening and spilling on the sidewalk.

With a mutter of, "Damn it," Sierra bent down to retrieve her items. Louder to the person she had bumped into, she said, "I apologize. My mind was elsewhere."

[Deleted]

Toad --
todd mortimer tolensky // founding member of the brotherhood of evil

Being bumped into the moment he stepped out the door wasn't giving Todd much of an excuse for a good mood - although, he decided, what was one human compared to what he was planning to build? He could let it slide, the man decided benevolently. Might as well help the woman out, too, even if she was a human. Brunette, outfit screaming 'professional woman!' - it made him think of Jean Grey, although he'd really only ever seen the redhead in latex or leather, and Toad chuckled mentally, amused at his own imagination. She'd always been uptight, more than the other X-Geeks, and he got the same vibe off of the woman crouched on the pavement. No wonder the psychic had gotten on so well at that glorified preschool.

"Nah, no problem.", he replied, sloping into a crouch that was all too familiar - his long legs bending out, he hopped backwards a couple of inches to give Sierra room, hands scooping up some of the blue-tipped pens that had spilled.

"What were ya thinkin' of?", he asked, glancing up at the woman. He handed her the pens he'd collected, noticing the wrench she gripped in one hand. Todd raised his eyebrows a little; pens and a wrench? Unusual combination for someone who looked so prim. "Don't tell me you're a grease monkey.", the mutant ventured, jokingly. Probably picking it up for her husband or something, he thought. A woman like that working on a car - he couldn't picture it.

She looked so put together, he doubted grease would dare smear itself on her. The thought almost made him laugh; instead he smiled, settling comfortably into his crouch again once he'd handed over the pens he'd grabbed from the rough sidewalk. People moved around them - through the doors he'd just exited, and stepping around them as the drones made their way through their boring, uneventful lives. Not that he had much room to talk, Todd knew. He was helping a random stranger pick pens off of the ground; not comic-book material.

word count: 339

[Deleted]

G I G A B Y T E
> > sierra parker

"I have too many lines of thought," Sierra admitted to the stranger. One such new thought was regarding why the man was green of all colors, but it wasn't anything she was particularly surprised about, not from where she called home. In fact, she was a touch proud that a gentleman that was presumably a mutant (either that, or he had rolled in some green dye for some reason or other) could walk around the streets without fear from hostile non-mutant humans.

Four, five, six red pens, all collected, but a quarter of the half a dozen blue pens were still scattered--

"Thank you," she said, retrieving the rest of the blue pens from the man. "Papers, writings, classes, schedules, repairs..." She gave the wrench a slight wave for emphasis before returning it back to her bag. "All of those and more are on my mind. I'm unaware of your profession, but even if you are not a teacher, I'm sure you can imagine all the prepping and planning one must do for a pack of students."

A raised eyebrow and a quirked smiled paired themselves to show her amusement. "Grease monkey?" she repeated. "I admit, I've never heard of the term..." but a quick search on the Internet through her mind's link gave her a ready definition, "but I presume you mean mechanic. As an answer, yes, I suppose I'm a grease monkey. My school had recently gotten an old bus to take our students on field trips, and I want to ensure that it is safe and up-to-date, of course."

She shut up at that point, with Pip in her mind mentioning that she was quite close to babbling. Perhaps she should be sociable and return the favor to the gentleman.

"What about yourself, if I may ask?" Sierra said. "Are you familiar with mechanical work as well?"