EOD DEAD END DINER
The Dead End Diner might be the only building in the Sprawl that is actually a diner. Miraculously missed by the bombs that blanketed New York many years ago, the building itself has still fallen into overuse and disrepair. The sprawl began to grow around the Diner, one of the few places that could offer shelter and warmth in the early days after the bombardments. With fires raging through the city for weeks on end, many died fighting over the small scrap of land on which the diner was built. Now, the diner has become the axis of the sprawl, a place everyone knows on the very edge of the city of tents and shacks. The Diner is ran by an old man named Carlos, who manages to make meals out of the meager supplies scavengers and merchants bring to the sprawl and offers advice in broken English to whoever wants it. Around the Diner, one of the few clear areas on the sprawl is set up, where scavengers and merchants set up makeshift stands. The MLA also keeps a small contingent around, in case raiders or gangs attempt to move on the Sprawl.
X-Men EoD Time
Wednesday, August 13th
With her tall frame folded almost in half so that she could lean on the dining counter,
Halo stood on the serving side of the long, marred, faded stretch of laminate, across from a smiling girl, a child of maybe five or six years, who had the unfortunate fate of having been born in the snake pit known as The Sprawl. Halo, who had picked-up this morning's shift as a favor, was busy entertaining the child between orders with parlor tricks, since her mother was engaged in a low-key but apparently intense discussion with another patron sitting at the counter. She felt a little sorry for the kid as her mom ignored her to partake in the exchange full of sharp whispers and head shaking, but the shrewd, coppery-eyed woman was also keeping an ear out for anything interesting that the two women might share. Halo watched the child unwaveringly, her mouth tipped up on one side by a small smile as she held her hand flat over the top of the counter. As the richly-tanned extremity gently shimmered and blurred while it pulsed evenly, the girl watched, transfixed, as Halo slowly lowered her hand to--and through-- the countertop. Her smile grew a little more pronounced as the little girl squealed in delight, causing her mother to finally glance back over her shoulder, to cast the child, and then Halo, a brief, perturbed look, before returning to her conversation. With a smirk and a wink at the girl, Halo more than got the woman's drift and stood-up to get the next order up.
Shield walked down in the direction of the Dead End Diner, the area usually reserved for merchants coming up from the south free for now, as they usually set up in the afternoon and night, not willing to cross the city without daylight. Still, Daniela was not coming to buy anything other than food and the diner was enough for that. Daniela walked with determination, the reassuring weight of her pistol tucked into the back of her shorts reminding her that she was safe. It was, after all, not uncommon for everyone in the sprawl to be armed at all times. The law of the wastes was to deal with most disagreements with a few well placed bullets, after all. "Morning!" said the girl as she walked into the restaurant, waving at the old latino man grilling some undetermined food on an old, cheap round grill. "Hey Halo." said Daniela as she sat on one of the stools, not noticing the girl the other mutant was tending to, she simply asked, absent-mindedl
y. "Got anything for breakfast?" resting her elbows on the counter and her chin on one of her palms, fully aware that supplies were irregular at best in the sprawl.
Busy squaring-up another customer's order, Halo spared a glance at the sound of Shield's familiar voice upon her entrance, as she greeted the proprietor of the establishment. She initially acknowledged the other mutant with a single upward nod of her shaggy-haired head, but it was another minute or two before before she was able to make her way over, offering a cursory greeting of 'What's shaking?' as she wiped the back of her hand over her brow, which was already dotted with perspiration from a combination of work and the day's warmth. 'We got, ahhh...' she started with a look in the direction of the man tending to the grill. 'Griddle cakes. Or,' she pursed her lips and tossed one shoulder up in a nonchalant shrug as she looked back to Dani with a small smile, 'Possibly a discus. Can't guarantee what's innit.' Upon that remark, Halo smiled slowly but fully, the corners of her eyes, which were framed with dark circles for any number of reasons, crinkling slightly with the expression. 'I think there's maybe a bit a beans from last night, though. Shouldn't be so bad reheated. Less likely to chip a tooth, too.
"Griddle cakes it is then." replied Shield, now resting both elbows on the counter and using her hands to prop up her head. The girl blew a stray bang that was unceremoniously tickling the tip of her nose and took a whiff of the stuff on the grill, seemed harmless enough. "Sure beats last week catburgers." she smirked, thinking they'd be lucky if half the stuff in the patties had actually been cats. The girl was always sluggish in the morning, and the heat wasn't helping, not like the cold helped at all during the winter, but she sure missed being able to open the fridge to get an ice cold drink. Fixing her one bright blue eye on the little girl Halo had been tending to, she smiled and gave her a tiny wave. Normally her eyepatch would've interested kids, but they had their fair share of amputees and the sort in the Sprawl, survivors from the bombs. "You heading up north anytime soon?" she asked, resting her head on her hand once more so the tip of her pinky finger brushed against her lower lip. "You know those guys forget to eat short of one putting the food in their mouth."
The door opened and The Rook slid in, silent as death. He avoided the eyes that turned on him and instead walked over to the counter and standing stock still, one hand on the sheath of his katana. The suspicious looks eventually died down as people went back to what they had been doing. Rook glanced over and saw Shield and Halo. Although he did not smile in recognition, he did walk over and stand nearby. "Are there any more of the crackers that were made last night?" he asked Halo. "Hello Shield. Any news from this side of the wall?" He might only be over here for meals but he was still interested in the goings on, especially where he could be useful.
'Shh, shh, shh, don't be giving away all of our secret ingredients, Dan,' Halo quipped quietly but with a subtle smile as she reached underneath the counter, and, as was custom, produced a well-worn, dented tin cup and set it down on the counter in front of Shield with a dull plink, either for water or coffee. More specifically, it was the Dead End Diner's version of coffee, which was really an astringent, non-caffeinated boiled concoction of chicory and dandelion root, but it at least gave the pretense of having one's morning cup o' joe. Despite the fact it was really the only thing available to eat, Halo called, 'One Wednesday morning special!' to the man tending the grill. 'I had a couple things I was gonna scrape together and take over to the other...' she started to say as she turned back to answer Shield's question, when she looked-up to see Rook standing there. 'From last night? Just beans,' she replied with a fairly toothy smile, big enough to compensate for Rook's lack of expression.
Shield was known in the area because she was the Doctor's assistant as well as one of the MLA lieutenant's best friend, so she found that she was often able to do things other people might not be able to. Reaching over the counter, something which might've gotten some of the less reputable people in the sprawl shot by Carlos, Daniela grabbed a pitcher of warm 'coffee' and poured herself a cup. In the years since the fateful riots, Daniela had become quite the caffeine addict, and even though this wasn't actual coffee, it couldn't be any worse than the packaged stuff they had sometimes at the mansion. "Don't be like that, Cat's good eatin' nowadays." grinned the girl as she took a sip. Turning to rook, the girl have him a smirk, "Hi Hisoka, good morning." not quite used to referring to the Japanese guy as 'the rook'. Even though she was only three or four years older than Rook, he was still the 14 year old slightly nerdy asian teen she'd met 9 years ago, and she still treated him like a kid in many ways. "Nothing new, today is one of the doc's off days, and I know you MLA types have more bullets than bandages, so try not to get yerselves too roughed up will ya?" she said, almost rhetorically, before taking another sip, "Heard anything from Sha- uhm.. Meta..morph?" she asked.
The Rook made a face at that and nodded at Halo. "Of course. Just a little of that, then. Please and thank you." Manners were still helpful even here and now. His eyes went to Daniela and a mischievous glint came into his eyes, something to mask the distaste of hearing his name spoken. "I barely use bullets anymore," he stated carefully. "You do not want to shoot small animals, puts the meat in danger. I kill my cats by beheading." One of the small children overheard him and let out a gasp. Hisoka looked down at the little girl and wrinkled half his face in a mock menacing manner, and the little girl let out a small shriek quickly followed by a giggle as she ran off. "I believe Metamorph is still abed," he answered. "Although I had hoped she would be around."
Completely unconcerned as Shield helped herself to a beverage, Halo tossed the woman a half smile and a dismissive shrug at Carlos's apparent resourcefulness when it came to procuring food for the diner. To the low-key Japanese man she pithily replied, 'You got it, Rooky,' as she slung a scrap of towel that used to be white over her shoulder and walked away just as he went into detail about his preferred method of feline assassination. She'd only been on her feet for a couple of hours now, so her leg wasn't bothering her too much, but the evidence of an old injury still visibly, if subtly, impeded her gait. The hotcakes were up, but she paused to take care of the two women who'd been chatting at the counter. The little girl, who'd been alternately attentive to the three mutants, was practically hauled out of the diner by the shorter of the two women, apparently her mother, who'd grabbed her by the upper arm to do so. Halo calmly watched their exit as she wiped-up the section of counter where they'd been seated before, then went to take care of Rook's order and grab Dani's.
Carlos was a small, thin man with tired looking eyes, skin tough as leather, with hundreds of small wrinkles running all over his face, bald head, a curved nose and an over-sized mustache. He must have been a small man before the quarantine, but now that food was scarce, he was diminutive. Still, even the mutants in the sprawl knew it was best not to mess with him. In complete silence, Carlos had dispatched Dani's and Rook's order as the pair spoke to Halo and they were currently sitting on some old paper plates next to the grill. The man spoke very little, but would soon be closing and going to the back to tend his small vegetable garden he kept behind the diner, fenced by copious amounts of barbed wire.
Shield finished downing her 'coffee' before she put down the cup with a small metallic clink on the counter. Even in this heat, with a tiny bead of sweat or two making it's way down her cheek and neck, all the way to her collarbone, the raven haired girl liked to be able to drink something warm for a change. As Room replied, she raised the only eyebrow that was noticeable (as the other one was hidden behind her eye-patch) and turned around on the her chair so she could rest her back and elbows on the counter while she crossed her legs, hoping to get some of the morning breeze coming in from the broken windows of the diner on them. "I see." she replied simply, before asking, "And how many bandages do'ya carry?" she asked with a wise ass grin, reaffirming her point, which Rook seemed to have missed. The MLA didn't have the mansion's medical facilities, and without the doc or any medical supplies, one could die from a single infection, mutant or not.
"None," The Rook admitted. "Although with all honesty, any injury my travel companions or myself acquire during an outing is unlikely to be one that can be easily bandaged." This was said with an amazing lack of inflection. Rook looked at his own hands on the counter. They were scarred, his wrists discolored from the many needles shoved into him over the months he had been captured. Bandages wouldn't do him any good here. "On that note, I would suggest you go speak with the little one in the North. She may have an outing your outlook would find beneficial."
The wall closest to the side of the counter shimmered for a second before Justin stepped through quickly scanning the room for any signs of danger. His ice blue eyes fell upon many familiar faces this morning. He gave a slight nod of acknowledgement before taking a seat of the far side of Hisoka. "Carlos, can i have something with some meat in it dont care what. Just dont tell me if its cat or dog if it is."
With a terse nod to Carlos after she made her way to the grill, Halo carefully grabbed the plates, supporting them appropriately so that the flimsy paper didn't collapse under the weight of Shield and Rook's respective meals. She looked over as Justin made his entrance and spoke straight to the man himself to place his order, one eyebrow quirked in idle regard as she unceremoniously let the meager plates of beans and warm set of griddlecakes plop down on the counter. Halo was known for many things, but being the most courteous or conscientious of servers was not one of them. 'You want anything to drink?' she inquired with a glance at Rook as she set a motley pair of utensils out for he and Dani to eat with, although it was really a general question. With the two of them taken care of for that moment, Halo leaned forward and braced the heels of her hands against the edge of the counter, apparently interested in the course of the two black-haired mutants' repartee.
Shield gave Rook a slightly over-dramatized sigh as he closed her eyes and tilted her head back a bit, letting the hair on her shoulders fall back before she grinned again. It was funny how in spite of the sword and the zen attitude and fighting skills, there was some of that Japanese kid still in the other mutant. And that something was sucking at symbolism and innuendo. "By bandages I don't mean literal bandages, dear." she said with a sweet smile, motioning with her hands to drive the point home, "It can mean medical supplies... what I was saying earlier was that the MLA has a lot more weapons and warriors than they have infrastru-" she began explaining, before she was suddenly interrupted by yet another mutant coming into the Diner in a slightly less conventional manner. Far from being surprised, the girl simply lifted an eyebrow, "Hey Warp." she said simply. In the last few years, Daniela and Justin had not interacted very much, so they didn't know each other too well. "I thought you could only do that once or twice a day." she asked, pointing to the shimmering portal, considering if he'd come from the north sprawl, to the southernmost tip of the South Sprawl it was a couple of miles of teleporting. Daniela had always been forced to economize with her powers, so she had become a small sort of... fuel gauge for everyone's abilities. "My, aren't you a little princess today?" teased the girl with a sardonic smirk and a sidelong glance to Justin after his cat or dog comment. "Thanks Halo." she said simply to the other girl, receiving her food and quickly biting into it, before adding; "We can go talk to Shana and see what Hisoka was referring to after breakfast, right?", with a more sincere smile.
"Nah it wasn't too far. I still have one left in me, maybe another later on if i push it." Justin shrugged as he leaned back on the stool. She was right it was a huge distance from the tent so he could build up one more if he had to, maybe a half mile at best. "I prefer not to know i once petted what im eating but the taste is fine with me. How's the dandelion coffee miss Sheild?" He scratched the back of his head noticing that his fingers were a bit numb. Finally the shine is kicking in, just where i like to be.His glance wandered to Halo. "Can i get a cup of that to?"
There was a reason that The Rook was so much happier when fighting. There was only one answer to fighting, no innuendos for him to misinterpret, no puzzling out the language. He nodded intently at Dani as he listened to her explanation, but his food was set down and then the explanation was interrupted by Warp's arrival. He was tempted to say something to Justin about using too much energy, but withheld it and instead listened to everything going on around him as he ate his food at a quicker rate than was really necessary.
With her head cocked slightly to the side, Halo stood quietly and observed the back-and-forth between Shield, Rook, and then Justin as he defended his previous request to Carlos. It was one of her marked traits, and one that hadn't changed much over the years, the fact that she watched and listened where others might not. She'd become less awkward and blatant about the habit, except for the present company of course, and now she usually made her observations while wearing a sly, hair-trigger smile. Without asking whether or not Dani was through with her drained cup of coffee, Halo slid the used tin vessel with a calculated push of her finger so that it glided along the counter past Rook came to a stop in Justin's vicinity. She grabbed the carafe from its hot plate and poured the gritty dregs into the cup in front of the teleporter and tipped her head to him before turning her attention to her eyepatch-wearing colleague on the other side of the bar. 'Sure thing, ma'am. Was planning on heading that direction, anyway; better if there are two of us, especially if I'm taking stuff up there.' By stuff, she meant the meager rations she was able to scrape together, which she'd briefly referred to before the boys arrived, for a couple of their compatriots who preferred working to taking time to properly nourish themselves.
Although there were a few more people than the silver-haired vixen was eager to deal with so early in the day, Shana entered regardless, having spotted her best friend from outside the door. "Shield," she said simply, giving a short glance to the small kids hanging about with their mothers. She gave no other audible greetings, though she nodded her head at her three former companions at Xavier's Mansion. Her face was stern as she approached the girl she'd come to see, never showing emotion. Over the years, a series of events that involved her parents and siblings, and figuring out who she really was and what her true origins were, had hardened her, and the one person who best knew what she had gone through was Daniela. This, coupled with the war between the MLA and the X-Men, kept the girl from being able to find the energy or the importance for her own emotions. Her only goals were to get her fellow mutants and herself out of this mess, no matter what the price, and to keep them happy while she did it, as impossible as that seemed. "Any news on this side?" she asked simply, taking a seat in a wobbly bar stool next to her friend and leaning her arms on the counter in front of her.
A sudden quietness seemed to descend on the diner as Shield simply ate her breakfast, trying not to taste it too much. Granted, Carlos was a mean cook and he could make the most inedible stuff palatable, but the longer you swirled stuff around in your mouth, the more likely you were to start discerning the ingredients that made it up. "You and I have probably pet cows before." she said matter of factually to Justin with a grin, turning away from the counter once she was done and giving Halo a small smile and a "Thank you." Daniela had gotten a slight smart-ass strain to her in the last few years, or maybe she had just learned to vocalize what she'd been thinking for so many years. If someone was bothered by her quips, however, the girl was sure they'd let her know, she just didn't like the sudden and intense silences. Once Shana showed up, however, the girl lit up like the fourth of july, in contrast to the other girl's harsh demeanor and attitude. "Hey Shana!" she said with a big grin. "All quiet on the western front!" she then announced, in response to her question, faking a military salute over her eye-patch, before turning to Halo and lifting an eyebrow as if to ask if everything was indeed quiet. "We were just about to pay you guys up north a visit. I don't like going up there too much but.. what are you gonna do, right?"
"I never really petted them though, except Bessy, man i could make a killing with a milking cow in the sprawl." Justin's mind went off on a tangent, still a bad habit of his. The cup slid right in front of him and he couldn't help but think how smooth Halo had been, she must have done this a hundred times a day when she put her time in her at the diner. With a ginger sip he tasted the non alcoholic concoction, a tad bitter and no much like real coffee but here in the sprawl it was good enough. He honestly was uncomfortable around Halo, nothing to do with her herself but it always reminded him of someone else, a dull ache set in in his chest, this was the very reason he drank because the pain of losing loved ones never faded. He glanced to the side as Shana entered, Dani instantly perking up like a puppy whose master came home. "NO but there are some missions posted up in the command tent." Justin half answered Shana's inquiry.
Lucas entered the diner and stood in the doorway, his eyes scanning the room for Justin and Rook. After a moment, he noticed them, after seeing a few other well known mutants around. Straightening himself with a little self purpose, he made a beeline for their table and placed the piece of paper Corpsefire had given him, the numbers etched upon the paper black and uninviting. He said nothing as he pulled a chair towards him, he merely stood behind it for a moment, "May I join you? We have some things to discuss." He was uneasy about the setting, and without waiting on an answer, took a seat.
After returning the coffee carafe to its proper place, Halo offered a 'No problem,' to Shield, then greeted Shana with a casual upward jerk of her head in return as the tall, coppery-eyed mutant wiped her work-worn hands on the towel she'd slung over her shoulder. With everything taken care of for the moment until Justin's order came up, Halo crossed her arms in front of her chest, propping her rump against the prep counter toward her backside. 'Yeah, we could all benefit from all sorts of stuff we don't haven't and shouldn't waste time daydreaming about,' she dryly commented to Justin. The word weren't unkind, but she saw no use in going off on some what if tangent. She'd outgrown that some time ago. What Halo could manage to get, she did; what she couldn't, she lived without. When Shield mentioned about coming over the the North side, Halo nodded her concurrence as her eyes shifted in the two women's direction, and they shifted back when Justin offered the comment regarding missions. An inky eyebrow arched upward at that bit of information when Halo angled her face in the direction of the door as his Majesty of the North Sprawl entered the diner. Her lips twitched, as if she was about to say something, but she instead just asked, 'Anyone need anything?' as if she just remembered that she was on the clock.
The Rook looked up as Lucas sat down, his spoon hovering over his plate as he saw the paper. They needed to get moving if they were to intercept, and he knew it. Taking the last scoop of his beans, he shoved them in his mouth and passed his plate to where it could be picked up. "Make it quick," he said to Lucas. "The faster we get there the faster we get back."
"Good," came Shana's initial, and simple, reply to Daniela's cheerfulness, her eyes boring holes into the wall across from the barstool she had taken as her seat, next to her friend. There was nothing there that she felt like eating, but when did she ever feel like eating anything at all? "Well you know I'm right by the gates, so if you need an escort, I'm easy to find," the girl explained, turning in her seat to face the black-haired girl next to her, the tiniest of smirks pulling at the corners of her lips, but immediately disappeared. Of course, Shana had always been used to Daniela as the scared little deer that she always had to watch over and protect, so even if she could take care of herself now, Shana would still worry about her, and even continue to poke fun at her. Most of Justin's and Halo's speech went ignored, except for the last thing that Justin said, about the missions in the tent. "Really," she said in a matter-of-fact tone, turning now to face the teleporter. "Is there a reason that we aren't all discussing the missions together right now?" she asked, obviously in referral to all the mutants and leaders that went on the missions together, including the one man who wasn't there yet. Or, who happened to be walking in the door. Shana's bright cerulean eyes followed Lucas as he entered and crossed over to Justin's and Rook's table. "I guess I have my answer," she said unabashedly and loud enough for the others to hear. Upon Halo's question, Shana said, "Yeah, breakfast special," with a small, dismissive wave of her hand, then the silver-haired woman stood, crossing immediately over to the men's gathering. "Maybe you wanna discuss whatever the hell you're planning with the ladies?" she questioned harshly, reaching down to snatch up the piece of paper he'd tossed onto the table and taking a closer look at the coordinates burned in black.
"I need to go on my own sometime." chuckled Daniela as Shana offered to escort her through the north sprawl, it'd been years since any of the more desperate MLA gun men had tried to pull any moves on her or feel her up looking for hidden weapons at the wall, so she was sure she could handle herself. Suddenly, however, the raven haired girl's train of thought was interrupted by the small bits of conversation appearing in the diner; "Well it's not like we can't actually get some of this stuff." explained Shield in response to Halo, leaning back a bit and motioning with her right hand while her left elbow rested on the counter. "Problem is the MLA doesn't have the manpower to be everywhere at once...." then, with a sidelong glance to Lucas, she added, "... the trustworthy elements anyways." with a small sarcastic grin. After the small playful verbal jab at the magnetic mutant, however, quickly quieted down. Shana wasn't TOO far from the truth, as sometimes good old Dani would emerge, specially when it seemed like her best friend was about to lay down the law, like she was right now while confronting Lucas.
Lucas folded his arms across his chest, raising his eyebrow as Shana took the paper. "Perhaps I'd me more inclined to share the information with you if you asked nicely." He smirked, he enjoyed his little games with people, it made life here a little more bearable, which wasn't a bad thing when the action was turned down. He turned his gaze to Dani as she made her comment, his grin widening. "Oh? When have I ever given any doubt as to my trustworthiness." He winked, shifting his posture, straightening up as he unfolded his arms and rested his scrap arm on the table. He never felt truly comfortable in this kind of setting, even years ago when he was more of a sociable creature.
"Hmmpf" Justin played off the smart comments thrown his way over he counter. He simply half rolled his eyes and started to take meager spoonfuls of his plate as the discussion continued. Deep down he enjoyed having all the old class men around from the mansion but it wasn't like they all were buddy buddy when they where there. "Ironically the ones here are the trustworthy ones." He added to Sheild's comment through mouthfuls. He was already on board with Lucas so he didn't feel he needed to add anything to the mission discussion.
'Exactly,' Halo quietly replied, but the conversation to which is applied had by then moved along, and she'd already turned away to tend to Shana's order, so the word was dropped and left behind like a hot rock as she limped off. She patiently and quietly bided her time while the idle and tit-for-tat conversation abated as Shana got down to business and addressed Lucas with a pleasing severity. She glanced passingly at Justin as he muttered through a mouthful of food, then looked pointedly at the sheet of paper as it went from the countertop to the tattooed lady's hand; her eyes drifted from the paper up to the young leader's face, before she looked to Lucas, to whom she directed, 'Oh, pretty, pretty please,' she delivered in a deadpan manner. Halo hated it when anyone lorded information, or anything for that matter, over anyone. 'Have you come all the way over here to tell us something?'
The immaturity level in here was stifling for The Rook. He slid from his seat and shook his head. "Can we do this quickly and be off. I do not want to meet up with anyone else before we reach this place." He looked over at Shana and just shook his head at her antics. It was annoying as hell to him that anyone was still going around acting like this when the real enemy was out there. It took a lot for him to not roll his eyes as he made his way past the group thronged around where he had previously been sitting and towards the open area on the floor closer to the door.
"And perhaps I'd be less inclined to nick off your pretty little balls if you stopped acting like a high schooler with a nasty secret," Shana spat back at Lucas, her words beginning with the most sarcastic form of sincerity and calmness, then flowing into a harsh growl as she finished her statement. The paper in her hands was crumpled as her grip tightened, and although she felt like ripping the thing to shreds just to spite the old dirtbag in front of her, the young woman knew the coordinates etched onto it were essential to whatever mission the boys had planned to go on without even consulting others first. Halo's response to the white-haired man garnered a quick glance from Shana, but her attention immediately went back to the table before her. "Maybe your pea-brain doesn't get it, so let me explain. We," she began to say, pointing to herself, then to Lucas with raised eyebrows, "Are leaders. We are also a team. When we go on a mission, as a team, we should first discuss the mission." Although her words were full of spite, Shana still managed to present them in a teacher-like tone, even using her hands to emphasize what she was saying. Leaning down, she concluded with a scowl, "You didn't discuss. We wanted to know. Naturally, we're pissed. Make sense now?" Although she had become quite the less-than-happy person than she was back at Xavier's, Shana was still the same in the sense that sometimes she let her temper take over, and she became prone to over-dramatically snapping at others who displeased her.
"Calm down Shana." Justin had finished off his plate and pushed it back a bit before he bluntly defended one the only ones he considered a friend. "We didn't decide anything." He swept a gentle gesture to himself Lucas and Rook as he spoke. "But we did brainstorm what would be easiest with who we have available between the three of us who where actually there." He stated without actually looking at her, his tone cold and blunt but not insulting as if he was emotionally detached from what he was saying. When he finally looked up his eyes where dead, devoid of any caring light they once had. "Now if you'd like to keep a hushed tone and not let the whole damn diner know what we might be planning to do im sure Lucas might share all the possible choices we have." This time his voice dropped to a low growl, he wasn't necessarily threatening her but he wasn't happy with her attitude either.
The situation was getting a bit out of hand and tempers were beginning to flare, so Daniela decided to try to step in and help Justin calm everyone down. After all, she knew how fearsome Shana was nowadays when she was pissed, and MLA types were more likely to start a bar fight than try to talk things out. "H-how about we all go to the north sprawl... away from innocent civilians?" she said with a fain smile as she gently put a hand on Shana's shoulder. "We can hang out and you two can go into the command tent and make a decision." she continued with a smile, turning to Halo, Justin and Rook and nodding, as if telling them to nod along with her. "I'm sure Carlos was just about to let Halo off the clock, too, I mean, not much to do here till lunch." continued the girl. "You know if you ask me, I'll go on the missions too." said Dani pointing towards herself with her thumb, this time speaking directly to Shana. Since Dani wasn't exactly a soldier, she wasn't supposed to be part of the MLA proper, but whenever Shana went, she ended up going too. It was a sort of... unofficial rule everyone knew about, and it kept some of the more grabby and asshole-ish MLA militants off her back, too.
Lucas' temper was beginning to rise, and through clenched teeth he retorted, "I can live without my balls, I daresay you'd be a little less productive without a head." He clenched his hand, tempted to act upon his anger and start a fight, nothing got to him more than someone insulting his brain. But getting into a fight now, well that would only enforce their opinions of him. It annoyed him greatly that Shana was complaining about their lack of discussion, was he meant to do it telepathically? In what time between hammering out the details and getting here was he meant to tell her, especially since she was here already? His anger lead to his metal arm contracting, emitting a quiet groan under the strain of the forces at work. A few of the metal cups on the table began to dent, and it wasn't until he'd finished this train of thought that he remembered some control over himself, and when Justin spoke up, he himself rose from his seat, looking down on everyone. "Alright, everyone meet at the command tent to discuss what we're going to do." As he said discuss, he looked at shana, his brow furrowed in contempt. He left promptly into the Eod South Sprawl.
As the quips and threats were volleyed to-and-fro, Halo shifted her coppery eyes from person to person as they spoke. She was still, more or less, a woman of few words, and she saw no reason to toss her two cents into the verbal melee, more so than she already had. As the discussion wound down, with Justin and Shield trying to temper the conversation with reason, Halo nodded in concurence that she could, indeed tag along. When Lucas flexed his mutant muscle, Halo shot him a fierce look as he disrespectfully manhandled the diner's limited supply of drinkware, but he was already relaying instructions for them to rendezvous at the command tent before flouncing out of the diner. 'Well, that went well,' the tall woman said, sardonic as ever and with a little smile to match, 'I can pack your breakfast to go,' she directed to Shana, regardless of whether the leader cared or not, and she went to do just that.
He could feel the sparks in the air as he tried to mediate with his own temper rolling under his cold and unwelcoming visage. Lucas was pissed and really only Rook could have stopped him if a fight where to break out, Shana was a army of her own as well. Between the two Daniela and Justin could keep them apart but not from tearing each other apart. He finally sighed as the feud ended and Lucas left. "Wish i had my flask." Justin grumbled pushing back from the table and standing up with a disgruntled huff. He fished ten dollars from his pocket and left it under the corner of his plate to cover his meal and whatever was left was for Halo. He turned and walked out the door to Eod South Sprawl.
As tempting as it was to drain these two of their powers and their pride, The Rook simply stepped aside as Lucas stormed out, followed by Justin. He looked over to where Dani was standing, his eyes a little sad. "One happy family," he muttered sarcastically before waiting for the others to proceed him out. He wanted to stick with Justin, but it seemed that the men were of very disagreeable dispositions. Not that Shana was much better.
Hearing Justin's words, Shana's mouth opened and her jaw jutted forward with annoyance as she cut her blue eyes in the sandy-haired boy's direction. All the nonsense spewed from his mouth at once, giving her not time to reply, though she could think of a few select words to use to show him how calm she had been before he opened his mouth. "You've got to be kidding me," she huffed as she turned her face heavenward, her hands clenching at her sides and crumpling the paper even more. He attention was grabbed even more when he asked her to lower his voice, and she shot him an incredulous glare, wondering many things that contradicted his statement, such as 'why would you come to a public diner to discuss something you don't want others knowing about?', and 'might share with us?'. "And I might say that you'd fall pretty quickly without my help, too," the girl snapped, her head whipping back to face Lucas when he spoke. What the hell kind of world did these men live in? Don't tell the girls because they have tits and should clean house and cook dinner instead, then get pissed when they want their fair share of work? Feeling a warm hand on her shoulder, Shana knew it must be Dani, but she still pulled away gently, the contact mostly annoying her in the quickly rising heat. Dani's words were heard, but Shana said nothing, her eyes locked on Lucas as his powers slowly flared up, then stopped abruptly. "Of course, your highness," the girl growled as Lucas stood and left, her eyes never leaving his back. How he came to be largely followed and respected by a gang of mutants such as the New Brotherhood, she just couldn't figure out. "Yeah," she said simply in response to Halo, finally turning away from the door after Justin tucked his tail between his legs and followed Lucas out the door. "Family doesn't exist here," she then replied to Rook, walking back over to the bar to take her seat again. The notes she still had in her hand were shoved carelessly into one of her cargo pant's pockets, and she finally managed to say back to Daniela, "Maybe the Junkyard Artist and I can figure something out. We'll probably need you." Although on the inside she was fuming, Shana was strong enough to keep most of her anger inside, though every word she said right then was full of seething venom.
Daniela sighed as the situation was defused, if by a hair's breadth. Lucas liked to play Leader and was respected by some of the younger mutants simply because of the fact he looked older, but to people who'd known him for a while, it was as clear as day that his maturity level was not anywhere near what it should be for a 'strategist' type, and that temper muddled with whatever good ideas he might have. Luckily, when Justin was with him, the two mutants could strike a nice balance and keep the other from going off the rails. "I'll wait for you and Halo... and Rook, at the bone-yard." she said simply with a faint smile, resting her hand on Shana's shoulder for a second. "Maybe you and Lucas can come to a decision if you're on your own. Just keep in mind that even though he looks older, he's OUR age... and then some." she said with a shrug and a small chuckle before she headed out to the Eod South Sprawl.
Although The Rook hated the fact that he was often stuck doing what the others felt important, he knew his place. Turning on his heel without so much as a goodbye to the other two, he followed Dani out of the diner and to the EoD South Sprawl.
Setting upon the diner's counter two old, crumpled bags from a chain store that had long since closed-up shop, Halo returned to the shrinking gathering of mutants, having caught most of Shana's vehement retort to Justin and Lucas. The Scrap King's arrogance was nothing new, but in a relatively small area chock-full of super powers and desperation, any measure of conceit and self-importance was due, and should be in Halo's opinion, to be dialed back at least a little. 'See you over there,' the dark-skinned woman said with a nod to Dani before she left as she cleared Justin's plate and the money he'd left behind. Halo wasn't much for calming gestures or words of encouragement, but she conveyed in one glance what some others might verbally or otherwise: She trusted Shana implicitly to make the appropriate decision for she and the others, whatever the outcome was. Leaving the money with Carlos, Halo bid adieu to her employer and came around the other side of the counter to grab one of the parcels of food, and nudged the other toward the last person left seated there. Peeling away from the bar, Halo walked out of the diner and into the morning heat of the EoD South Sprawl.
Whether Lucas and Justin worked better as a team than Lucas alone, Shana wasn't concerned. What mattered to her was that both of them needed a reality check. Getting together to discuss the missions should have been the first thing they did, rather than one of them have to approach the other about things that had seemingly already been decided. "Trust me, I know," the woman with metallic hair replied to her best friend, her hands clenching at her sides again at the thought of Lucas and his maturity level. "See ya in a bit," she added as Shield left the establishment, still sitting at the bar as Halo brought out both their to-go orders. Standing, the girl snatched the bag up in her hand, tossing down enough cash to pay for her meager meal, then followed suit behind Halo, walking out the door silently to EoD South Sprawl.
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Eod South Sprawl
X-Men: End of Days * X-Men EoD Characters
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