Creative Inspirations | Monday, period one

[sharp_as_knives]

This week, class had been advised to bring anything they wanted to create with - guitars, chalk, pencil - with them to Portalocity. Hannibal himself had brought a portable - somewhat, anyway; it ran on batteries and had a case - theremin with him. He was wearing (designer, expensive, plaid) jeans and a light sweater along with (expensive, designer, not-plaid) hiking boots.

"Welcome, everybody. This week will be slightly different - we'll be spending the entire class time at our destination, and indulging our creativity there."

//We'll be hitting up an old power station in Perth,// Jono intoned, a backpack over one shoulder and a mischievous glint in his eye. //It's been sitting abandoned for quite some time now, but it's quite the destination for people looking to explore old abandoned tunnels, get into things they generally shouldn't be getting into, and to paint on the walls.//

The bag, of course, was full of spray paint. Because Jono was an excellent role model.

"There are also bound to be some very interesting acoustics, for those of you who may be musically inclined," Hannibal added. "And if you'd like to explore, the tunnels apparently lead down to the sea. Please be careful, but enjoy yourself." He brought out another bag, this one with several hard hats in it. "We are required to wear these while within the structure. Everybody please take one." Not that they could force the students to wear them when they weren't in sight, but that wasn't his concern.

//Paint, explore, sing at the top of your lungs, whatever you see fit. Don't get yourselves hurt - bring a light with you into the tunnels if you do end up going that way - and we'd rather not have to go hunting for you at the end of the class period, but besides that, go nuts.//

And with that, they ushered the students through the portal, Jono opening up the bag of spray paint and flashlights for students to help themselves to once they were on the other side.

Comments

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

Jono... surprisingly didn't bring his guitar today. Mostly because it would've been a pain to carry around along with the bag of spray paint, really. Which was fine, because while he was shite at drawing and the like, he actually wasn't so bad at certain sorts of graffiti.

Particularly not the sort that he used to do all of the time as a calling card of sorts with his team.

So if he spent a good part of the class period just poking around at the other graffiti already on the walls, and then decided to cover up some of the more crude nonsense with the New Warriors insignia...

Look, he resented them far less than the X.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"Nostalgic?" Hannibal asked.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

//Maybe a touch,// Jono allowed, picking up another paint can and giving it a shake. //I'm not much of a painter, but this one... I guess it just sort of happens when I'm holding the spray paint, these days, after all. It was about this time a few years ago the New Warriors... our incarnation of the New Warriors... suffered their first casualties. And now we've disbanded, have been for years.//

He shook his head a little.

//They were all rather good people.//

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

Hannibal came to stand next to him, looking at the graffiti but with his arm brushing Jono's. "Who else was there, apart from Ms Lee?"

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

//There were... a few of us. Barry and Angel, Christian, his sister Christine... she was our first casualty. Sofia was late to join the party. She signed up after we lost Christine. And then there was Vin... he didn't make it. And Mira...//

From the way his tone went a bit distant, there, it was probably fairly easy to tell that Mira hadn't made it, either.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

Hannibal squeezed his shoulder. "How many are left?"

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

//These days...? Hell if I know. Fell out of touch with Christian, and Barry and Angel are alive and well, if busy with the kids. Sofia's been scarce, too. Not sure what happened to th'kids who were pulling tech support for us, or Thrash. And you know Lee's doing well enough.//

He shrugged.

//So far as I'm aware, we only lost th'three.//

'Only.'

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"Each loss of a friend is a tragedy," Hannibal noted, "but for a group of heroes in your world, that seems to be a good rate of survival."

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

//Considering the hell we went through, and none of us with powers that didn't run on battery packs, it's nothing shy of miraculous,// Jono allowed, picking up a paint can and giving it a shake. //There were a few times we nearly lost far more than that. Hell, I came back looking like a great bloody pincushion, once.//

That was easier to talk about than losing Mira.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"What happened that time?" Hannibal asked. He made a note about Mira, but he was willing to bide his time.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

//Was sent under false pretenses to fight a shapeshifting homicidal techno-being with roughly a trillion self-replicating nanobots at his disposal, and was trapped, with only about half our team, on his home turf. We burned through our available resources trying to just survive long enough for rescue, and I made one last stand to fend him off while the others made their break for it. Got several foot-long spikes through my arms and leg for my troubles.//

A beat.

//But nobody died.//

There was no small amount of pride in his voice at that. He'd taken charge in those tunnels. He'd kept his team alive. That had been him.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

And that pride was entirely justified. Hannibal gave Jono an equally proud smile. "That must have hurt. But you persevered."

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

//Hurt like hell and walking was a challenge for a while after,// Jono agreed. //... Until I swallowed my pride and let myself get healed, at least. Never long before that happens around here, really. Lord, some of th'tricks I pulled to buy us more time, though... //

He shook his head and started painting. Long, bold, angular strokes across the wall.

//It's a miracle we lasted as long as we did.//

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"Miracles are a combination of luck, planning, and skill," Hannibal said. He watched Jono paint. "Tell me about some of your tricks."

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

//Mostly we pooled what few resources we had left once our power packs started dying off,// Jono replied, shrugging. //Left some traps behind us, jury-rigged as hell, to try to slow Machinesmith down some. The real trick was getting everybody to stop and bloody focus. You'd think they'd never been in mortal danger before.//

In fairness, he had been the only one who'd had actual military training pumped directly into his brain and who had spent a year systematically murdering the unkillable over and over, so...

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"For some people, danger has a way of making all sense fly from their heads." Hannibal shrugged. "But you kept them together, and you got them out alive."

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

//What I did was keep them alive long enough for rescue to arrive,// Jono clarified. //I didn't get them out. Figured I was making my last stand, and then got princess-carried out by Mira once backup finally managed to get back to us.//

... Jono seemed to get princess-carried around a lot. It was slightly less ridiculous these days, now that he wasn't huge and blue.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"Tell me about Mira," Hannibal asked.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

Jono paused at that, and then looked downward, falling silent for perhaps a few beats too long.

//Mira was... She had been one of those mutants who had been dealt a rough card when her powers manifested. Snakeskin and scales all over, no chance of fitting in seamlessly into human society. She was a prostitute when I first met her, back when I was still in the X-Men. Human bigots burned her home to the ground, and she joined us, for a while. At least until she got sick and tired enough of Warren paying attention to cute-but-crazy instead of her, and she left. She was the only member of the team who ever really took me seriously, besides Logan.//

He closed his eyes for a moment, and then shrugged.

//We found her again after we all lost our powers. She threw herself right into the training, was one of the best of us, really. I had been working my way up to having the nerve to maybe... I don't know... ask if she'd like to spend more time together, outside of all of that superhero nonsense. Never got that chance.//

So it goes.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

Hannibal set a comforting hand on Jono's back. "She sounds quite something."

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

//She was... she was fantastic.// Jono shrugged and leaned back against Hannibal's hand a little. //And bloody fearless. We lost her when she backtracked to try to save one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had shown up to bring us in. 'Capekillers,' they were called. We were on the most wanted list at the time.//

He was veering, again. Ish. It really was a testament to Mira's character that she had died trying to save somebody who, moments before, had actively been trying to kill her.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"Do you know what happened?" Hannibal asked.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

//I was there,// Jono replied, quietly. //I watched it happen. Watched her realize that her attacker's ammunition pack was overloading, watched her leap in to help him try to pry it off. Watched Vin jump in, too, to try to pull Mira off of the Capekiller. Watched them all go up in a ball of fire and pink mist.//

It had taken him a minute to really register it. But he'd been the one to explain to the kids back at the hideout what had happened. He had to be the one to tell Kaz.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"You lost them both at once." Hannibal's hand wasn't going anywhere.

Re: Talk to the teachers!

[furnaceface]

//Just like that. They were there, and then... they weren't. There wasn't even something left we could bury. Vin was... he was a bit obnoxious, maybe. But he was a friend. We'd fought together. And Mira... the only person on that team who knew me better than Mira was Lee. We understood one another. We'd both been through the same shite with the X-Men together. Both knew what it was like to have to hide in plain sight.//