First Club Meeting

[thetruefocus]

Who: Everyone with powers!
Where: The X-Men's Community Center
When: Saturday, February 7th
What: Come join the X-Men and friends and meet other people with powers!

Warnings: None

Community Center Gathering

Ororo Munroe may no longer be in this world, but her work has continued and the new community center is on its way to completion...though not nearly finished yet. The front steps are scuffed stone. Much of the iconography of the former abandoned temple is gone, but some of its architecture remains in the door frame and pillars.

There is no signage. If you've made your way here, it's likely that you received a personal invitation or spotted the notice on the Forum. While this is technically a gathering for those with abilities or powers of some kind—inherited or learned—but no one will kick you out if you're human. You just might encounter some wariness from the others. The goal is encourage folks trying to figure out their powers or learn who they are to find a group of people who can help and understand them.

Upon entering, you'll likely run into the welcoming face of the event's organizer, Charles Xavier. Once enough people have shown up, he'll give his customary speech.

Meet and Greet

The main room and the kitchen's been cleaned and painted. There's been some effort to match the floor tiles, paint, and furniture, but a close look will reveal that everything's secondhand, patched together from whatever materials could be scavenged and purchased. Still, there's a comfortable couch and two matching chairs, a couple of shelves, and a cactus by the window.

A bunch of cardboard boxes are shoved into the kitchen, holding bits and bobs that whoever is working on the center is sorting through. The oven's broken, but the fridge is working. You can help yourself to coffee, tea, and beer, and any snacks you find.

A. Failed Food Delivery

While the idea was to have pizza delivered, if you arrive earlier in the meeting, you'll find out that the pizza never arrived. If you're inclined to help, you can whip up a snack plate using stuff in the kitchen, run to the grocery store for supplies, or drive down the block to pick up some emergency takeout. Or perhaps you already arrived with food and drink all on your own? Anything you've got to donate, it'll be added to the table in the middle of the room.

B. Toaster Woes

If you're attempting to use the shoddy equipment in the kitchen, the microwave and toaster are prone to blowing the circuits, plunging the room into darkness. Not to worry: either Logan or Scott will flip the breakers in the basement to get things working again, but for a few brief minutes, the darkness might cause you to trip over the uneven floors or bump into someone carrying a drink.

C. Party Games

Several board games and puzzles are stuffed into the shelf near the whiteboard. Options include Connect 4, playing cards, Jenga, and—a new addition—Uno, but given that the place is under constant construction and repairs, the boxes have a constant thin layer of dust and you might have to look for missing cards or playing pieces. There's also a random stack of paper if you want to annoy people by folding paper planes or just find some markers and crayons for a game of improvised Pictionary.

Power Demonstration (Basement)

The basement looks a bit...creepy, but it's clean and (mostly) free of mold. It's obviously still being worked on, stacked full of boxes and building materials, but there's a space that's been cleared out for those who would like to demonstrate their powers to each other.

If you're nervous about disrupting the gathering upstairs or your powers aren't suited to polite company, you can go down here and show people what you can do. Or, you can just come to watch. Perhaps you're attracted by the sound of popping cans or the whiz of magic, and are coming down to see what's going on.

Do be careful, though: if you surprise someone in the middle of their demonstration, you might send someone's power veering wildly off course. Alternatively, you're the one who was surprised, and now you've accidentally knocked somebody to the ground. Hopefully, they'll get up with nothing more than a bruise!

The Whiteboard

A whiteboard with a few colored markers (black, red, green, and blue) is set up near the entryway door. Written in Charles' handwriting are two very innocuous topic starters: Club Name Ideas—for people to volunteer ideas to name the "club"—and Contact Info—for anyone who wishes to put down their number, if they want. It's entirely optional, meant for those who're eager and willing to make friends, nothing more.

As is the case with whiteboards and a large group of people, however, what's ultimately drawn or written on it is entirely out of Charles' control. Feel free to play Hangman, draw inappropriate pictures, scribble caricatures of your friends—whatever you want.

Whiteboard Participation
If you want to write or draw on the whiteboard, or respond to others' drawings, reply to the comment HERE.

Comments

[freakymagoo]

...you're the boyfriend?

[Whoops. Did Bucky just say that out loud with unintended surprise/attitude? He stares at Erik for a while and tries not to make the situation even more awkward than he's unintentionally made it.]

I... [Yes Bucky how do you recover from this?]

Just. Assumed. You would be... British. [Yeah let's go with that. Honestly he wasn't sure what he was expecting of 'Erik' when Charles wouldn't stop talking about him (in nothing but good ways, as Charles is wont to do). That he looks and seems like someone Steve's mom would have approved of is... quite quaint.]

[heavymetals]

[ For what it's worth, Erik doesn't seem to be put off, however surprised he is by the blunt, sudden statement. His eyebrows arch with an air of amusement, lips twitching but managing to rein in a smile. ]

That would be me.

[ It wasn't that long ago that their relationship was kept a secret, enough that it still feels new to hear anyone address it like that. Suppose he's now relegated to the position of Charles Xavier's boyfriend, good Lord. ]

Just because he's British? You do realise he lived in New York before coming here. [ At best he might've expected Erik to be American. ] I'm German, for the record.

[freakymagoo]

He never said. [About living in New York, or his boyfriend being German. Bucky was genuinely assuming more Eric and less Erik. Of course, beyond that, he hadn't pictured anything, let alone what Erik might look or sound like, so in any shape or form he showed up Bucky would have likely reacted with the same surprise/incredulousness.

Bucky does try to look Erik up and down though, and he's not being overly subtle about it. Up until now he had convinced himself that Charles is a charismatic, guard-lowering, eloquent cult leader that absolutely cannot be trusted under any circumstances. He's trying to fit Erik into this mental image and he can't really tell if he's in on the whole thing or if he's fallen victim to the Charles scam like everyone else.]

How long have you known him?

[heavymetals]

[ The funniest part about Bucky's suspicions is that of the two of them, Erik's probably been closer to the definition of a cult leader. Not that the Brotherhood was a cult, obviously. Just that he has more the potential for it, as well as the charisma.

But of course that Erik doesn't know that's what Bucky's worried about, regarding Charles. He knows when he's being assessed, and while he's not entirely sure if he likes it much, he says nothing to it, stepping away from the center of the room and closer to the edges so he's out of everyone else's way too. ]

Ten years. [ Very long, fractured and complicated years. But Erik's not going to get into that. ] Why do you ask?

[freakymagoo]

Ten years. [Bucky echoes, and frowns. That's a long enough time to know someone if you haven't spent any time on ice, especially if they're on more intimate terms than just a 'we met back in school' situation, or a casual friendship or acquaintance.

Maybe it's not being particularly tactful to just come outright and say it but Bucky doesn't see the point beating around the bush.]

Are you part of his cult?

[heavymetals]

[ A long time for some, not that long for others. No doubt Bucky would think differently if Erik were to tell him that they've spent the vast majority of those ten years apart, but then time never really mattered when their feelings were present soon after their first meeting. Their minds linked even before they looked each other in the eye.

That question is certainly blunt, and from Erik's expression, it's probably obvious that it wasn't what he was expecting to hear. He debates for a moment countering with an argument, say just how fucking ridiculous that is (because it is), but why do that when he can just be a little shit about it?

So. ]

Well yes, naturally. We are together in every sense of the word.

[freakymagoo]

[There's no winning with Bucky either way. Denying the existence of the cult only confirms the conspiracy theory that they're in this cult they refuse to talk about, and going along with it especially so nonchalantly is just being honest about their intentions here.]

What's the end goal. [Every cult has an end goal. Bucky is expecting the usual - some kind of Ponzi scheme or tax fraud, although there's not much to be gained from being registered as an official religious organisation in a place like Panorama compared to the kind of financial crimes Bucky has gotten to learn of during his short stint in politics.

There are of course more nefarious reasons. Human trafficking, for example. Exploitation. Or some kind of late night true crime documentary classic where everyone's convinced themselves that the end of the world is upon them and they all kill each other. But so far Bucky hasn't seen much evidence of any of these. It's mostly his mistrust of Charles and-- well, not just Charles but people in general that has Bucky assuming he's not helping out of the goodness of his heart.]

[heavymetals]

[ Yes, Erik had a feeling whatever he said would be taken the wrong way regardless. Not that he really gives a damn about what a virtual stranger believes about them, or about Charles for that matter. It seems like such a wildly farfetched thing to believe about a man like Charles, though. The sort of conspiracy theory that tells Erik this man must be really stupid or incredibly paranoid. He leans more towards the latter. ]

Why don't you ask him? If you're keen to join us, I'm sure he'd welcome you into our midst. [ A pause, with a look up and down Bucky's frame. His judgment is entirely performative, he's just having fun with all of this. (Probably not helping Charles's case here. Whoops.) ] More easily than I would, I can assure you.

[ Well. At least that bit's not a lie. ]

[freakymagoo]

[Why does it have to be one or the other? Bucky could be incredibly paranoid whilst overclocking his singular damaged braincell.

Bucky recoils a bit and grunts. He doesn't know exactly what part of him is visibly lacking that he'd get turned away from a cult but he's not interested anyway. He just maybe doesn't appreciate that look.]

He's asked. Thanks. [With all the sense of humour of a rusty doornail too, apparently. He's not doing himself any favours.] I'm too old for your cult. [That is in fact a lie. Charles didn't specify an age limit. But he's pretty sure being the grumpy Fun Police is an automatic disqualification from any half-decent cult.]

[heavymetals]

[ Erik can't help his reaction at that. The answer gets a short laugh from him, one he pushes down immediately, though the amusement is now very much clear on his face as he nods at Bucky. ]

Suit yourself. We'll be quite alright either way.

[ He knows for a fact that Charles would a) not be asking Bucky to join a "cult", and b) stipulate a maximum age. Even if he did, Logan would be beating Bucky on that by several decades. ]

Any other questions you have about this wild theory of yours?

[freakymagoo]

[Bucky's lineface slowly morphs into a frown. It's fairly obvious that his paranoia is erring too far on the side of conspiracy theory and Erik, along with many others no doubt, would find his suspicious nature to be borderline unhinged.

It's fine by him - as far as he's concerned, he's not losing out on anything by not joining their circle of trust. And Steve probably just trusts them anyway and Bucky will get involved by implication even if he's dragged into this mess kicking and screaming and sulking and scowling.

Speaking of whom - Bucky spots him emerge from the staircase and he leans forward, moving to stand.]

No. Steve's here. [He'll pack his paranoia away for now and try to make a clean exit.] My cue to leave. Thanks.

[heavymetals]

[ Maybe a little. Maybe Erik is one of the few people who would understand where Bucky's paranoia comes from. Erik is rather prone to being paranoid himself, especially when he has no one to reason with him. Charles is a good balance for him in that respect.

That said, he's not bothered by it. Far from it— he's immensely amused by this whole interaction. Oh, he's going to love to pass this information onto Charles. ]

Anytime. [ Delivered lightly, smile still in place, as he tips his head and gestures for Bucky to go on his way. ]