ic Unstill Life

[alderwitch]

Robin straightened from her crouch, naked relief flickering across her features that it had actually worked. Whether the stoic Fens native would have indulged in a brief victory dance of 'yay, we didn't die', however, remained unanswered as the imposing figure of the headmistress appeared in the dissipating smoke, other students in tow. Opening her mouth to reply, she snapped it shut when Raina offered what was going to be the party line, apparently. Keeping her gaze level on Ms. Summers, Robin stepped forward, first to shake out her jacket and slip it back on to her shoulders before she turned her attention finally to the girls staring. 

She leveled a glare at Celeste when she started pointing and then stalked her way over to pick up the naked girl easily, hefting her into a bridal carry. 

"She should come with us," Robin said, the words more challenging than perhaps she intended. Still, her jaw was set. "She was scared - really scared - and she's just a kid. They'll send her to juvvie. Or worse. And she couldn't help it."

Robin's gaze travelled from the headmistress back to Celeste and her small knot of friends, "If one of you pulls out a camera phone, I swear I'll...."

Thankfully, the rest of what was likely to be a violent threat went left unsaid. 

Edited September 16, 2015 by alderwitch

[Thunder King]

"She was very upset." Hannah said. "She popped out of the statue and started freaking out. Then she turned into a monster. We tried to keep her here, to stop her from hurting anyone else, or getting hurt herself." Hannah shook her head. "She didn't want to hurt anyone, she was yelling at us to run, but we didn't understand."  

She didn't imagine they'd get into any real trouble. The bit of mischief with the statue would have been no more than that, mischief, if it weren't for the statue turning into a real girl. They managed to stop her okay, all things considered. Hannah was a bit proud of her construct, though she wasn't sure if the monster would have been able to break it or not. She helped keep the monster off of her feet and helped defeat her. That was really all she could hope for. After all, nobody seriously got injured.

Edited September 16, 2015 by Thunder King

[Tiffany Korta]

Cathy made some steps from her platform in the air back down to ground level as she descended them she returned her form back to normal, brushing the frost off of her clothes and tying back her ice-dreadlocked hair. At the bottom she pulled on her parka from where it rested and took time to drape her jumper over the unconscious form.

“We didn’t try to start trouble and when it did we contained things as much as we could...” she didn’t bring attention to the light sprinkling of snow all over the room from her flight around the room “And we worked as a team to bring thing to a close as quickly as we could. I think we did pretty well all considered.”

Having only met the Headmaster when she recruited Cathy to the school she wasn’t as nervous explaining themselves than people would have expected.

[Gizmo]

Faiza looked legitimately take aback by Robin's unfinished warning, halfway through taking off her own jacket when Cathy donated her jumper the the cause. "What?! None of us would-- How can you even think that?" she sputtered as she looked between the ruined exhibit and the Headmistress, causing Celeste to abruptly stop rummaging in her purse, looking a little disappointed.

"Are you actually proud of yourselves?" Madison spoke up incredulously at the same time. Clapping her hands together in an arcane gesture she pulled them apart to reveal a large conjured blanket, looking justifiably pleased with the show of skill as she pushed past Raina to drape it over the unconscious girl. "If anything--"

"Enough," Summers cut her off curtly, giving Raina a hard look as the other girls corroborated her story. It was fairly clear from the piercing look that she didn't think for a moment that she was getting the entire truth but for the moment it was apparently close enough. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she sighed, drawing upon some inner well of patience. "She'll come with us for now," she told Robin. She seemed less immediately concerned with the brawler's demanding attitude and more with the injuries - or lack thereof - that she'd sustained during the altercation. "The Academy has facilities for exactly this sort of situation while I make some inquiries. Robin, get her onto the bus while I go explain this to the museum staff. The rest of you still have an assignment." She gave the remaining girls a level look. "If we took a day off every time this sort of thing happened, none of you would ever graduate."

[alderwitch]

Robin didn't answer Faiza's legitimate outrage, rather she kept her glare on Celeste. She stood there, legs locked and easily holding the unconscious girl's slight weight as she was draped with a few different articles of clothing. It was only when the headmistress agreed that at least, for the moment, she'd be going back to Claremont and not, say, prison that Robin let out her breath. She'd put a lot of effort, personally, in staying out of juvvie but she imagined whatever juvenile holding facilities for super heroes were, it had to be less pleasant. 

"Yes, ma'am," Robin agreed with her marching orders, her tone respectful. With one last look for the others, she took off at a brisk pace, vanishing into the crowd to take her erstwhile charge to the waiting bus. 

[Thunder King]

Hannah took that moment to slink off and out of view. The situation was quite awkward, with all the other students staring. Of course, they weren't staring at her, but the poor unconscious girl who had recently been demonstered. To be a statue, for how long? She wondered if the girl had been aware in her condition, who had put her in that state. Her heart went out to her. Hannah's powers were relatively easy to deal with, she couldn't imagine turning into a monster like that. If anyone could help, maybe the school could. 

"I hope she'll be okay." She mumbled to herself. 

[Electra]

"She'll be fine," Raina told her, popping up next to Hannah apparently from nowhere. Maybe she'd used magic, or maybe Hannah was just distracted, it was hard to say. "She's got like incredible mutant rage powers to defend herself, and she shrugged off fireballs like it was nothing. She's gonna be okay. Come on, let's go find Robin on the bus and see if we can be there when she wakes up. I wanna know what the hell she was doing in that statue, and why it exploded everywhere. Maybe I've got a new superpower!" Raina shoved her rumpled worksheet back into her back and headed off, obviously expecting Hannah and perhaps Cathy as well to follow. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Cathy didn't answer them for a few minutes, busy as she was scribbling away in her notebook. 

"I don't think that we should disobey the Headmaster and not finish our assignment. Luckily for you I've already finished it." She proudly brandished the finished sheet.

"I read the museum's guide book on the way in, I was really interested in what the museum's has on display." She gave a little shrug

"Shall we go see how our new arrival is getting on?"

[alderwitch]

Robin was the first back on the bus by combined virtue of leaving first and taking every advantage of people wanting to clear out of her way. The jade dust on her clothes combined with the blood on her clothes and the unconscious girl she was carrying seemed to really do the trick in cutting through the crowds post-haste. Without pausing, she went straight for the Claremont bus, not only because it was a direction but she wasn't honestly sure if they were going to get a repeat of the newest 'student's trick of waking up and turning into a monster again. 

She eased the girl down onto the longest bench in the back of the bus and stood there for a moment, uncertainly before she bent back over to see about getting the naked girl something like dressed. Stuffing her top half into the jumper that Cathy had tucked around her, Robin was just turning the blanket Madison had provided into a knotted skirt when the other girls reached the bus. "Hey. You guys okay?"

[Gizmo]

As the rest of the girls boarded the bus their new acquaintance stirred, groaning softly and furrowing her brow. Green eyes fluttered open after a few moments and as consciousness returned and she got a look at her surroundings there was a sharp intake of breath. Jolting upright she backed away from Robin on the doublewide seat and pressed her back against the wall of the vehicle. "Wh-who are you?" she demanded with a surprising measure of dignity considering her disheveled state. Her left arm spasmed once and she screwed her eyes shut again, taking slow, deliberate breaths to calm herself. Squaring her shoulders under Cathy's jumper and drawing herself up, she brushed long, dark hair away from her face and continued with a pronounced English accent, "Where the devil am I?"

[Electra]

"Okay, now just calm down, okay?" Raina encouraged, standing away from the girl and raising her hands in her best nonthreatening way. "You're just fine and nobody's gonna hurt you, you don't have to turn into the monster again or anything, got it? You're in Freedom City, on our school bus. We found you in the museum, stuck in that statue. Do you remember how you got there, or where you come from? I'm Raina, by the way," she thought to add, "and that's Robin, and Cathy, and Hannah. We'll get you some regular clothes when we get back to the school." 

[alderwitch]

Robin lifted one hand from where she was slouching against the back of one bus seat, well within arm's reach of Fred, to wave at her name. The blood that had spattered her shirt was dry by now and the split lip had scabbed up once again. She relaxed back, arms folded, adding to Raina's narrative, "You also didn't hurt anyone while you were, you know, not you."

Robin added the information as she imagined that was probably information the stranger they had collected would want to know. "You hit me a couple of times but it's all good. We're good."

[Tiffany Korta]

Cathy stood back a little to give the new girl a little space, just in case.  She wanted a little space in case the woman decided to transform again, and she really needed a little space for the powers.

"This might not be the best time to mention such things. She could probably use a little time to process this."

Being so far from home she could understand, at least to some degree, what the new girl could be feeling.

[Gizmo]

The girl blanched slightly at the mention of her monstrous alter ego, letting her face fall into a delicate hand as she composed herself. "I... had hoped it all a fever dream," she admitted, looking for a moment very small in the oversized jumper, especially compared to the towering mass of twisted muscle they'd witnessed earlier. Clearing her throat with some difficulty she lifted her chin, clearly unwilling to show any outward weakness for very long. "I am glad, however, to hear that you avoid any dramatic injury, somehow. My name is Winifred Wei, out of London. I am... not clear why I am not presently there, in fact."

Her green eyes darted back and forth from face to face taking in details in a rapid analysis before moving onto her surroundings. "Freedom City, you said? In the Americas? ...then I was in a stupor for at least the duration of the voyage." The locality presented the flimsiest of explanations for the group's style of dress and speech but her forwn deepened as she looked around the bus, not recognizing much of what she saw. "Statue. A statue. The philter did render my flesh inert but failed to end me outright! Idiot. I was in such a panic..." Winifred ran both hands through her dark hair, blinking rapidly as she worked away on some mental equation.

[Thunder King]

The way Winifred said 'in the Americas' gave Hannah pause. She was confused by her location and surroundings, and the age of the statue suggested that this poor girl had been a statue for a very long time. Hannah wasn't sure how long, either. They found the statue, but nobody knew when it was 'made'. To be displaced like that, lost in a time so unlike your own.

"As far as we can tell, someone found you in the form of a statue and assumed you'd been carved. Then after a while you ended up in an art museum here in Freedom City." She looked at the other three girls. "Hey, could you guys help me with something at the other end of the bus?" She said, turning to Winifred. "You're not in danger, just relax okay? You'll be okay."  They needed to break the news of this poor girl's inadvertent time travel, Hannah just wasn't sure how.

With that, she started walking away from Winifred, hoping the others would follow. 

[alderwitch]

Robin remained there for a moment, tipping her head to the side as she took in the new girl's manner of speech and habits but what mostly caught Robin's attention was the reference to being 'ended'. She gave a small nod of her head at Hannah to show she understood the request and would be along in a minute. Unfolding her arm, she dropped down onto the bench next to Winifred.

"Hey," she said, "Winifred, right? Look, we all go to a school for people that have, uh, weird things going on. The lady who runs the place already said you're coming with us and they have people who can help with all sorts of things. Even your things."

Robin's voice dropped a little, "You've got some alternatives to ending anything, okay?" She hesitated and then gave Winifred an awkward shoulder pat before she shifted to stand up and see what the pow-wow on the other side of the bus is about.

[Electra]

"Yeah, they'll take care of you," Raina agreed with cheerful false certainty, trying to project as much encouragement as possible. The girl seemed to need it. "Sounds like you got lucky, taking any kind of high-powered philter without knowing what it's going to do can be really dangerous. Well, you obviously weren't entirely lucky, being frozen as a statue for like a hundred years, but there's a lot of good stuff about the present that you didn't get to have back then. You'll probably like it a lot, once you get used to it. Are you hungry or thirsty or anything? There's some snacks in the cooler up front we could liberate for you." 

[Gizmo]

Weariness was writ large across Winifred's face as Robin offered her assurances, looking like she might collapse from exhaustion at any moment. "I... mhn." She looked away from the other girl's eyes and pulled her knees toward her chest, obviously not ready to discuss that particular discussion in any more detail. She looked back up when Raina began to address her, prepared to politely suffer through another bout of well-meaning positivity only for her eyes to slowly widen when the spellcaster indelicately dropped a reference to just what scale of time had passed. The alchemist's breathing sped up noticeably and she looked around the bus again with new horror before tucking her face between her knees. "...I believe I am about to be ill," she managed to croak miserably.

[Thunder King]

Hannah cursed under her breath. She had intended to try and drop that bomb as gently as she could. Quickly, she summoned a crude bucket construct near Winifred, ensuring that if she did empty the century-old contents of her stomach, she could do so in a sanitary fashion. She walked over to her. 

"I know it's upsetting." She said. "I can't imagine the changes you'll be facing." She tried to sound sympathetic. "I just, all I can say is that the world is very different now. That's a bad thing, but also a good thing. You may like some of the changes, you may not. But you won't have to face it all alone. You'll have friends." It was the cheesiest, stupidest thing she'd ever said, but she said it quickly, and maybe it was wrong, but it was honest, and she meant well. She hoped that stuck out.

[Tiffany Korta]

“Surprising the woman who can turn into a rage beast isn’t the wisest idea.” Cathy told Raina in an angry whisper.

To the new girl however she was all smile, though the pale skinned girl kept a little distance so not to make her feel too crowded.

“Hello there do you need anything? Maybe some air or a bottle of water?” she added in a hopefully reassuring voice she added “It’s a lot to take in right now I know, but you among friends and people who can help you.”

Despite her best efforts to keep everything under control the temperature in the bus had dropped noticeably.

[Electra]

"Well I didn't mean to," Raina hissed back, "but she had to find out sometime, she had to notice we look like freaks and she's sitting in a school bus. What if the driver turned it on, right? And get ahold of yourself, she's not even wearing any clothes." Raina shivered and tried to resume her pleasant mien. "So, Winifred, you said? I guess this'll be your first time in the United States. It's pretty nice here, you know, mostly. Women can vote now and wear pants, and we have television and indoor flush toilets and horseless carriages, all kinds of good stuff." She brightened. "Oh, and we've totally got on-demand refrigeration now, so if there's a food you like, you can basically have it no matter what time of year it is or where it's from." 

[alderwitch]

"We also no longer buy or sell human beings like commodities," Robin pointed out laconically, more towards Raina than really to help bolster Fred's impressions of the wonders of the modern age. She took a slow breath and then let it out, "Raina's right, I think its pretty clear that things are pretty different now and its not like there's an easy way to break down what's happened. So, it's out now, nothing to do but deal with it."

Robin's gaze travelled back to Fred's bent form as she added, emotion draining from her voice until she sounded rather emotionally remote. "But all the neat stuff isn't going to matter. She's trying to deal with everyone she knows being gone and that just... takes time. Nothing's going to make it better. Nothing can."

Since there was no more need to deal with a pow-wow, Robin dropped back to the bench next to Fred, turning towards her. "I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. Do you want to be left alone?"

[Gizmo]

Winifred heaved once in the direction of Hannah's prismatic bucket but nothing but air and a retching sound came up. Placing the back of one hand to her mouth, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and breathed slowly and deliberately through her nose for a while, ignoring all of the attempted reassurance while she tried futilely to regain her sense of equilibrium. When Robin's last question finally sank in she reflexively began to answer, "Ye-- No. ...no, I think I should be grateful not to be alone just now." Taking a shuddering breath through her mouth and opened her eyes, looking between the girls slowly. "If what you say is true - and fantastic as it may be it seems the only explanation - then everyone I have ever... Everyone... My parents..." Her shoulders rocked again as she fought off another surge of nausea. "Ah--! Water, yes, please. Perhaps an open window? I do not trust my legs to support me just now."

[alderwitch]

Robin nodded slightly, the expression understanding although she moved her shoes a little away from Winifred just in case. She didn't have another pair of them, after all. "Do you want me to carry you outside? You really don't weigh that much. It's no trouble."

She offered as she glanced down to the blood still flecking her shirt. Frowning, Robin gave it a half hearted swipe. Well, hopefully she could soak that out later. She was pretty good at soaking out bloodstains and most of her clothes, at least, were dark in color. "Well, its twenty-fifteen, now. September. We're all students. I'm sure a professor will show up, though, and if anyone has some sort of plan in place for what to do about your predicament - its Claremont. Some of the kids are from, like, other dimensions or alien worlds. Freedom City's a funny place like that."

That was said with just a little bit of native pride. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Cathy was already helpfully opening one of the windows and allowing a cooling breeze into the bus, thanks to her abilities more chilled that it should.

“If we’re going a bit too fast tell us to stop for a bit, it’s a lot to take in so quickly, and I’m sure no one wants you to get to overwhelmed.” she tried to sound reassuring rather than concerned, which was more or less the truth

“Whilst some things have changed many things have stayed the same, especially back home in Britain. Parts of London are virtually unchanged for you own time.” or so it seemed from seeing it on television, she’d never been much further south than Inverness.