| And then Deadpool happened... | |||||
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| What: Several people try and get away from it all, then Deadpool happens. | |||||
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Grodd has been a busy Gorilla. He's balancing three jobs, both saving and quietly taking over the world while also building a Legion of Doom to keep the world in constant chaos. Today some hacker invaded his home network and it just was the last straw. He just needed to get away from it all so he went upstate to one of the many tall mountains in the Adirondacks. Sure, there was this town on the way where he stopped to eat and killed a bunch of people but it just didn't make him feel any better. No, something is wrong, something is missing from his life and he needs some peace and quiet to figure out what it is he really wants. As evening starts to fall across the sky and the horizon is painted with bright orange, the Gorilla general has been sitting motionless on the cliff of a mountain for almost an hour now, a giant, hairy lump in a meditation pose with his legs crossed. Breathing slowly, taking in the peace of having no living thing within miles and miles.. nothing to make him angry.. nothing to bother him.. just clear sky and green forest for as far as he could see, assuming he ever opened his eyes.
Camping. It was a good way to get out of the whole city thing. And seeing as Green is Good in the Green Skinned Anole's mind he just walked through the forest, ear-buds in his ears as he sang loud into the day. It just so happened that his path took him just under Grodd's Cliff of Solitude. And while he sang, his voice rang out pretty damn clear- he clearly didn't have a *single* care to give in the mountains here. It might have been something of a silly trip to take on his own, but Victor just needed to get *away*. Things had gotten to him, the city. The School. Even his beloved boyfriend had seemed to get on his nerves. The pack on his back was full of provisions, and he took with him a tent and bedroll. It should be just enough for the hardy young Mutant to survive comfortably. The pilfered bottle of whisky was just to keep warm. Really.
It starts off with a whistling noise. Like, something out of a Looney Tunes episode. And a bit of screaming. Not exactly terror screaming, but more of a whooping, hilarious sort of screaming. And presumably, some flailing.
The whistling increases in pitch Yay, science! The Doppler effect! and volume, until it ends behind Grodd with a deafening SPLAT. There's a long silence, then a few grunts, and something that sounds like someone breaking a cooked chicken leg in half. A red and black form limps up the side of the mountain, stopping a dozen or so yards away from Grodd.
"So a gorilla's sitting on a mountaintop," Deadpool says without preamble, ignoring his shattered left arm as it slowly heals. "Stop me if you've heard this one before."
Herbs, herbs, herbs. While some tenacious species might be found in a city or a greenhouse, some of the more potent and rare ones are only found in extreme or distant places and climes. Being a witch and an apprentice is tough work. But then, that's often the nature of magic, isn't it? Short of selling her soul to Martha Stewart for dark cupcake making powers or sacrificing a few goats to the Lord of Etsy, it takes /work/. And so Rain has opted to alternate climbing and broom riding on her way up. Carefully drifting on her broom near rocks to gently gather a plant here or there, her journey is punctuated by gathering, avoiding birds and other airborne hazards and taking in the scenery.
It's almost comical. A scruffy looking, dark haired woman in a black gambler's hate with goggles on sitting on a broomstick with a messenger bag. And then things take a turn for Gary Oldman riding a giraffe fighting crime. Is that - what is that red and black thing climbing - Time to find out! Her path over takes her near Anole.
Inner peace... inner peace... inner.. inner peace.. inner..%^$@&^!# how far do you have to go before these damn humans will leave you alone!?! The big gorilla stands up and up and up a good 14 feet tall and turns to look down at the shattered mutant, breathing hard, with that 'I'm about to hit something with a really big rock look' in his eyes like he's finally just snapped and Deadpool is the one unlucky enough to be there to take the ass kicking. Snapping like a man on too many steroids Grodd picks up a large rock and just starts slamming it into the space which Deadpool exists. Over and over and over the beast in him roars a primal, guttural fury as he just beats the living jellybeans out of the unlucky mutant. Someone should really, you know.. stop him at some point. He bellows, "STOP TALKING!! STOP TALKING!! STOP TALKING!!!" as he slams the rock into the merc.
Anole's pretty sure he hears someone shouting. And its just up the mountain- looking up he notices two things. One, a woman on a broomstick. And two, a monkey with a rock screaming bloody murder. "Tha Fuuuuuccccck?" Anole says, eyes growing wide. "I came out here to get away from bizzaro sh*t like this. MAn.." he says, clucking his tongue- even as the wet splut of rock and Merc was very likely what he heard next. He frowns, "Hey!" he says, up towards Rain. "You're real, right? I'm not like having some kind of mountain-madness, right?"
And indeed, there's a long, bloody silence that follows, in which there are no sounds from Deadpool that are not squishy and anatomical, as the Merc with the Mouth is reduced to a pulpy, bloody smear on the ground. And a new record is set for the longest time Deadpool's ever gone without talking!
A minutely sensitive psychic would perceive an irritating, irrational sensation in the back of their mind after a few minutes, while Anole and Rain are deliberating further down the mountain. Akin to the buzz of a mosquito, or a vaguely unpleasant sort of smell.
For someone as exquisitely sensitive as Grodd, it manifests as a combination of day-old salmon on a chalupa left out on a New York sidewalk in summer, and it goes a little something like this:
This is the song that has no end, yes it goes on and on my friend! Some people STARTED SINGING IT NOT KNOWING WHAT IT WAS. AND FOREVER THEY'LL BE SINGINGING IT BECAUSE THIS IS THE SONG THAT HAS NO END, YES IT GOES ON AND ON MY FRIEEEEEND!
"hOkay," Deadpool slurs. "you've har' thatun 'fore." The Merc sort of flops and squishes in odd ways that would make a yogi uncomfortable, dragging his mangled torso to an upright and locked position. His right shoulder is slowly straightening itself like coil of rope coming untwined, that arm effectively useless- but his left arm is straight out at Grodd, and pointing an improbably sized pistol at the gorilla. "So I never gon safari'n, an' I always wanted to know if hollowpoint bullets worked on monkeys." He bobs his eyebrows at the simian. "How about them bananas?"
Oh. My. Various deities. It's Deadpool! Right? Rain vividly remembers the unfortunate magic shop incident. She frowns a little. But there's no time to watch mercs climb mountains and make terrible gorilla jokes. It's time to check out some of these plants and things. But then, here's an Anole! Rain blinks owlishly. She inclines her head a bit. "I didn't think I'd meet a dragon on a mountain," Rain admits. And you know the most terrifying thing of all? She is TOTALLY unruffled by this idea. "Hello there!" Wave! "Well, whether I'm real or not would depend on whether you believe in subjective reality or not. It's likely there IS a parallel world where I cease to exist," A shrug. "For now, you are most likely correct. I am very much here." There's an awkwardness that hangs over Rain like Nutella. No one knows why. But she has that awkwardness of not really getting out a whole lot. Then Grodd decides that you cannot in fact, stop the rock and starts trying to restore peace and quiet by rocking Deadpool. With a rock. A large rock. Rain's eyes widen at the spectacle. "Oh gosh. Did you see that?!"
BACHOOOM!!!! The gunshot rings out like a cannon and chunks of Grodd rain down off the mountain as a small hole forms in the front of his stomach and a big hole explodes from the back of the gorilla. As is often the case. Grodd is a little too slow and just after the shot goes off he drops the rock and grabs the hand with the gun in it pulling the arm right off of Deadpool's body giving another bestial primal roar for a few seconds then he falls to his large knees as his insides drip out of his back. He breaths heavy wheezing breaths and looks confused, "Dead.. Deadpool?" he asks then he looks down at the arm in his hand. "Oh, oh, goodness! I am so sorry! I don't know what happened!" he says embarrassed that he lost control of his anger, "Here let me... Let me fix... " he leans over to try and help Deadpool reattach the arm but ends up fainting like a sissy girl and toppling towards deadpool.
Anole's eyes get wide because its raining bits of Gorilla. Blood. Stomach. Fur. NAsty. Eyes narrowing, Anole wipes his face clean and then gives a hop up to the cliff-face and begins to climb up with spider-man-esque alacrity. Its not all that hard to get from bottom to top in moments, where he notices a passed out gorilla and Deadpool. "Hunh." he says, with a little raise of his eyebrow. "Seriously. What the sh*t."
Deadpool screams. More in protest than in actual pain, rolling away from the falling monkey. "My arm! You bastard!" He takes the arm out of Grodd's hands and promptly slaps the ape with it a few times, then jams the stump against the severed limb and holds it there, kicking the unconscious simian in the ribs a few more times for good measure after Grodd collapses. He puts his foot against Grodd's shoulder and with a heave of exertion, shoves the monkey onto his back.
"Grodd." Deadpool jumps on Grodd's chest and slaps him a few times. "HEY MONKEYFACE. WAKEY WAKEY!" he shouts.
From Grodd's perspective, there's a slight weight on his 800lb chest, and then as his vision clears, Deadpool's masked visage looms in his immediate view. "Oh, good. You're awake."
Deadpool stands up and calmly shoots Grodd in the foot, then walks a few feet away, apparently now none the worse for wear. He squints at Anole. "Huh. A Dragon, in these parts? Weird time of year for dragons. Oh, a Rain! Hi Rain!" Deadpool waves cheerily at The Witch That Did It. He turns around to Grodd, keeping both his pistols loose in their holsters, and crosses his arms across his chest. "You ripped my arm off. I /hate/ it when people do that. Hurts for days. How am I supposed to do The Stranger?" Deadpool demands of the primate mastermind.
Rain blinks as the conversation halts once poor Grodd gets more holes in him than an M. Night movie. "Oh dear." Her eyes are a bit wide. She even puts a hand over her mouth and will move her broom over that way. She tries to avoid the bits and pieces of poor Grodd. It's like a really unpleasant pinata. Someone somewhere has a plethora of them, but she's not quite sure what it means, not really. Either way, her journey takes her up along with the others. "Hi Deadpool!" Rain waves back. "Did um, someone need a healer? I saw - it was raining..." Raining being metaphorical or a polite allegory for something quite gory (allegoriest?). "How are you?" She asks. She seems concerned, but in her awkwardness, it's a bit tough to get through. "And yeah, I was shocked, too." Ponder. "I need to come to the mountains more..."
Grodd is just awake enough to feel the second bullet blow off some of his huge toes leaving a chunky mess in their place. The pain he is feeling hits his brain and he lets out another roar but this one isn't stupid rage this one is good old fashion anger. Using his extensive mental training he turns off his ability to feel pain and grunts through clenched teeth. The only conscious thought that makes it through the haze of pain and the focus of willpower is, "The Stranger?" Indicating what might be part of Grodd's anger management issues as he lays there bleeding slowly to death. After a moment he gathers his thoughts and asks more clearly, "Healer? I need a healer. I'm not sure why though. What's going on? I was, I was meditating and then I was shot! Did someone put out a hit on me?" he asks then he sees the reptile kid and assumes that is what Deadpool looks like under the mask, "You brought your son with you, to kill me? Is it take your kid to work day at the assassins club?"
Anole looks at his own giant arm, a wry grin there. "I luckily don't suffer from the same issue." He says dryly, with a little grin. "Anole." he says, introducing himself as he looks then over to Rain. "And I'm not a Dragon. Well, maybe a little- but no fire breath. Just a big nasty claw." he wiggles his clawed fingers on that massive right arm. "You'd think it be easier to do the stranger with a detached arm, less feeling. It *really* feel like a stranger. "So. What's with the big monkey?" he wonders as he takes a hesitant step forward to give Grod a prod with a toe. Prod. Prod. "I didn't think this was the sort of Mountain for gorillas." Confused, Anole scratched at the top of his head. "Dude." he then says, looking up at Deadpool. "You look beat to sh*t. ARe you going to be okay?" he wonders, a hint of humane concern there- for both Grodd and Deadpool. A good kid is a good kid, even if he's a touch over-used to that good-ole ultra-violence.
"Son, what!?" Deadpool looks taken aback. "Jeremy's in Mexico, he's not- oh! This fugly mudder," the Merc says. He shrugs at Grodd. "I'unno. Exchange program with the Savage Land?" he guesses. Deadpool looks Anole up and down. "Also, you're one to talk about looking beat to sh*t. You look like the north end of a mule taking the west train to the South access. Um. And... looking ugly. While doing it." Nice. No one asked for commentary from you!
Deadpool wags a finger at Anole. "Also, I wouldn't prod the monkey. He takes that poorly."
Rain smiles faintly. "Not all dragons use fire breath," She notes quietly. "But it's still neat. I am Rain, usually. It's a pleasure to meet you, Anole," She bobs her head in greeting and waves. She tips her hat back a little to get a better look at things. And yes, she does stay floating on her broomstick, ankles close together. Poor Grodd. Rain frowns. She will land nearby, though, she does not dismiss her broom. Pause. "Well, strictly speaking, he wouldn't be a monkey. He'd be more a Great Ape, or one of the hominoids," She adds. "Then again, that biology class was weird..." She taps her chin. "Anyway, I can do some healing magic. But, er, no David Bowie riffs. I'm not nearly fabulous enough for that," She rubs the back of her head. "One day!" She's approaching Grodd to figure out how badly the poor chap is hurt. "I can heal you with your consent," She offers to Grodd. "Just um, hold still awhile. It takes a few minutes. But I'm friendlier than an HMO!" yeah! ... way to sell yourself there, kid.You paged Deadpool with 'Hey, would you like to hear Grodd's inner voice in Deadpool's head? He is pretty badly wounded and you are sensitive to text boxes.'
A blink at Deadpool. "Who- or what is a Savage Land?" Rain gets distracted. But back to grodd!
Grodd's inner voice is boiling over with fury. WHY IS NO ONE ANSWERING MY QUESTION!?! Who ARE these people!?! All I wanted was some peace and QUIET!! Now I'm going to have to kill all of them so no one hears about this! Justine Hammer defeated Deadpool, I can't let people know he got the jump on me! If that prissy little human can defeat him I would never live it down if Deadpool killed me! He was already having a bad day and now he's bleeding all over the place. He snaps at the healer, "Then hurry up and get to it!" not in the best of positions to be giving orders but he's Grodd and he hates feeling helpless.
"Well, you got me there." Anole said over to Rain. "But, I don't do great in school these days." Its the nightmares. " Best to heal the guy though, I'm pretty sure talking gorillas are endangered. It be a shame to lose one of those rare sort of things." Anole gives a quiet grin over towards Deadpool. "Hey, at least I've got both my arms." Anole gives 'Jazz-hands'. Why? He's felling prickish.
Deadpool considers that for a moment. Then takes a peek at Anole's +sheet. Not seeing anything there that beats a Rank 7 in Marksmanship, Deadpool draws his pistol and puts a bullet into Anole's right foot. "Funny, I've got both my arms, and you've got a hole in your foot." Deadpool holsters his pistol and gives it a beat. "Jazzhands!" he demonstrates, doing it WAY BETTER than Anole does.
"Also, Grodd, turn the noise down, willya? I'm getting all this red text spamming up my text boxes." Deadpool wiggles a finger in his ear. Your text boxes aren't literally a sound. It's figurative, dummy. So why not figuratively wiggle a finger in your ear? "I'm a MUSH character, everything I do is figurative," Deadpool says aloud, apropos of nothing. Do we know a word like apropos? No, but it's cool. I've got it. Sweet.
Rain blinks, taken aback a moment. "Sure thing. Sorry," She seems used to it. She inclines her head to Anole. "That's alright. If you need help with math or something, just let me know," She nods. "That, and it would be a shame to lose the poor guy." There's a twinge of sympathy. Magic or not, being shot HURTS. Either way, it's time to - she jerks as poor Anole gets shot at. Or at least, his foot! Her eyes are a bit wide....
Right, gotta concentrate. Like a zen boss. Which wouldn't be a boss or would it? What is the sound of - okay, nevermind. She's got to mentally clear herself. Will working is tough. While it is nice not to have to dance, sing and hop around or use runes to power her magic, the trade off is being a bit slower and needing to not be full of holes. There's a distant, far away look on her face. It's somewhere between serenity and sadness. She's zoned. Totally, completely zonked out. Mercifully, she doesn't start drooling. Normally, there's no glow or nifty effects to her magic, which is a boon most days. When you're healing someone though, the metaphysical Microsoft progress bar is a source of comfort. There's a deep, almost royal purple auralike glow about her. "You may hum a cheerful song if you wish." But otherwise? Kerzonked.
Grodds text box reads, ' Great, I'm being defeated by a crazy man. Note to self: Make Deadpool immortal.' It's an odd thing to think but as Grodd's body slowly regenerates itself under the care of the healer Grodd becoems less hostile, "Wait, I remember." Re-member. How fitting! Da-dum-dum-tish! "I was meditating and you interrupted me and I beat you with a rock." Wow, he really can take a beating. That's impressive. I should be nice to him. He could be useful. Annoying, but useful.
"Look, Deadpool, I apologize. I've been having a really hard week." Decade "I came up here to get away from annoying people and somehow you managed to find me." Well, that sounded better in my head. Then he looks at the lizard, "Deadpool, can you stop shooting people for just ten minutes please? As soon as the nice healer" and her tit* "Are done healing me I'll go back to my lab and you can shoot as many people as you want where I don't have to listen to it. In fact, I will pay you twenty thousand dollars if you can just stay still and not talk for ten minutes while she heals me."
A crack of fire- and pain shoots across Anole's face. "sh*t!" he says, foot lifted to be in both hands- even as he bleeds into his shoe. "AH, you crazy sack of sh*t. You just shot me!" At least he's in good company with Grodd now- "I hope this Gorilla gets up and beats the piss out of you." he says, as he sits and pulls his shoe off. Already the straight-through wound to his foot appears to be knitting together. He's rubbing it like it was a nasty bruise. "f*cker. I hate being shot. I *hate* it." he grumbles, "What the hell are you on about? Mush?" Confused Victor is Confused. Clearly, Deadpool had a case of the crazies.
"It always itches so f*cking bad when the wound closes up." Anole laments to himself, grumbling now. He shrugs off his backpack, and digs inside to take out the bottle of whisky. Its a fancy type- wooden corked. The claw of his thumb is jammed in and easily the cork is pulled free and tossed away. "So. Who wants to get drunk?" he asks, taking the first pull himself. Grodd, the other one shot by Deadpool gets the first offer.
Deadpool swipes the whiskey from Anole and promptly chugs the entire bottle. In, like, five gulps. He chucks the bottle into the air, draws from the hip, and plugs it in the air overhead. "Thanks! Next time, bring something that doesn't taste like ass."
Deadpool eyes Grodd. He starts to say 'Ten-' and stops. Then starts to say 'but-' and stops. Then he sits and fidgets.
Do you think he counts subtext? No, I don't think so. Internal monologues? No, that's not really talking. What about internal /dialogues/?
"Well, ok," Deadpool says finally, to Grodd, "but I can't make any promises about these guys," he says, wiggling the gun barrel at his own head.
Rain is zoned for a good number of minutes. Prepare for timey-wimey stuff as she concentrates. But shortly, Grodd will be healed up. She's mercifully unaware of most of the metaconversation going on around her. Willworking takes concentration, after all. Still, healing magic is pretty potent and it's totally her thing - even with witches being known for newtating people. It takes her a moment to finish being zonked out and heal poor Grodd. She'll likely be quiet and blink the fog out of her eyes. "What?"
Grodd says, "I never touch the stuff. It's bad for you." When it's that cheep crap. "But thanks." Anole, what kind of name is that from now on he shall be Future-Alcoholic-boy. Then as Deadpool shoots the bottle Grodd's inner voice thinks Well, I guess he can't. So, I'll hire him through an intermediary. Still, a unstopable killing machine is worth the money. You have to admire his potential. If I could put a different brain in that body then.. wait, no, no I have too much on my plate already. I'll just hire him like everyone else. That debate settled Grodd says, "I can see I'm asking too much of you, look, there is a car on 5th and Green, brown station wagon, keys are in the glove box. Back it up and there is a locker of weapons hidden under it. You can have them. Free of charge as a way of apologizing for my losing my temper. " Grodd says to the Pool.
"You're a real bastard." Anole says to Deadpool as he stands, putting his shoe back on. His foot's all healed up. "Best I could get. Its not like most people are selling to a green lizard looking mofo." He says with a shake of his head, "I come out here to get drunk, and camp a little while. Instead, I get shot and my booze is taken by a gun wielding psychopath." He Just gives a shrug. "I think its best I headed on out." Without anything breakable left in his backpack, Anole just tosses it over the cliff. HE takes a step back- before he seems to waver and disappear from reality, activating his camo. Even his scent is gone, though.. His thoughts are still there to one who is Psychic. *Masked Douchbag.*
Deadpool blinks, then considers, then draws his hand cannon again and takes his best guess at where Anole's next footprint is gonna land as the lizard takes his leave of the group, using his master skills to follow the bloody footprints in the ground. "Now you're invisible and you /still/ have a hole in your foot," Deadpool informs the empty air, which is hopefully spurting blood and curses.
"Anyway, guess I'll be off, then," Deadpool remarks to Grodd. "Thanks for the weapons! Sorry I had to shoot you, but I really hate it when I get dismembered." Deadpool chucks Grodd on the shoulder. "Peace out, monkey-boy! I guess I'll be off." He looks around, licks a finger and holds it to the wind, then takes a running leap off the side of the mountain with a WAAHOO! followed by a series of agonized screams.
When Anole vanishes, Grodd takes an even greater interest in him, that is a nifty trick.. Grodd pushes for those lingering thoughts about the masked douchbag and tried to push his phone number into the kid's head with an impulse to call Grodd at sunset. He won't know why he is doing it he'll think it's his own idea. He might even create fake memories of getting the number from the ape or it might not work at all. Hopefully it will be at the next sunset that Anole will call Grodd but who knows with mutants some times you can't influence them at all.
He looks at the Merc and then at the healer then back to the merc as the man jumps off the mountain.. Yeah, Grodd is lucky he got the most sane person on the mountain to stay with him... At least he's alone.. with the helpless healer.. on a mountain... oh, yeah, this is going to end poorly for her.
Anole had moved the minute he disappeared- and his foot wasn't bleeding any longer. His limbs, as it turned out, healed *very* quickly. A few steps to the left- and the bullet had simply hit the dirt. "f*cker." Anole says as he returns to reality. "Drank all my whisky." he says as his form wavers again into reality. "So." he says, looking at the Gorilla. As a student at Xavier's he was passingly familiar with mental intrusion. He had good teachers, after all. "What's with the phone number." Half a question.
The giant ape looks up at Anole where he is laying and says, "My name is Grodd." which everyone should know that name. He turned everyone in the world into apes about five years back. It didn't last long, just a few minutes. Some people even found it pleasant. "I make it a point to keep in contact with mutants. I like to offer my protection to them. I know what it's like to be different. I know how cruel the humans can be. " he says as he looks up at the girl, "Well, some of them anyway," he amends, "It is my hope that one day your people and my people can share this earth without the tyrannical rule of super-governments like the humans have built. "
"Right." Anole replies "I've heard that one before." he says softly, "I'm not sure if you're right or wrong, honestly. There are a lot of good people out there." Anole's thoughts go to home. Fairbury. Where everyone stood behind him and his family, even when he became a mutant. "I know a lot of good, everyday people." he crosses his arms- one huge arm over his regular sized arm. "Protection is good, though. Particularly with some of the wackadoos out there."
Rain has been pretty quiet, more listening. She doesn't seem to say much for a little while. She probably heard of the name, and nods. "I see. Nice to meet you, Mister Grodd." She seems well mannered despite the scruffiness. There's a polite smile. "It's alright. There's good and bad everywhere," She offers. "But we can be pretty mean." She frowns. "Even to one another." And as a witch, she's frankly glad they knocked off all that inquisitioning business. She looks to Anole, inclining her head. "Never hurts to have friends, or at least allies, I guess." She taps her chin. The only thing odd about Rain is how awkward she seems and the purple eyes. "It must be tough looking after a lot of folks who stand out." There's definitely sympathy.
Raising his large hand Grodd offers it to Anole to squeeze the boy's hand reassuringly. He's a grandfather after all and he still has that grandfather instinct to comfort the young, "Good people don't try and rule the world. Only hard people, people like me. The important difference is that I want to let those good people enjoy a good life. I care more about people being happy under my rule than politics. That's what people don't understand, freedom, real freedom isn't what you have here in America." Words that would get him shot in some places, "Real freedom is a society beyond scarcity. Where no one lives in fear of there not being enough. People don't hate each other because they are different, people hate and fear because deep down inside, they know there isn't enough. Not enough food or water or electricity to keep us all warm. I want to make a world where there is. Where no one has to work, no one has to hunger, where there is unlimited energy and food. Where people are free to do what they *want* not what they have to in order to survive. "
Grodd says, "I come from a place like that. A city full of Gorillas like me. We have technology far more advanced than humans. I thought, once, that if I could use that technology to make everyone more alike I could bring peace to this world but I was wrong. " yeah, that is totally why he turned everyone into apes! Really! "It was too much, too fast. I'm going slower now. I'm trying to introduce new technologies that will make the lives of humans and mutants better. If I can take away that fear of not having enough, then there will be no reason to hate. I just have to be careful that the technology doesn't fall into the hands of the wakadoos, as you put it."
Anole's large hand is the one he allows held. The strength there- well. Its great. Far greater than one might expect from the small framed lad. "So, you're like a Marxist?" he asks, pulling a word out of history class that he's pretty sure is apt in this situation. "What's to keep you to that promise, though, Grodd? I mean, a lot of the greatest threats to mutant kind are based in technology." A tortured mind flashes to an Island. A sentinel. Pain. Pain. A flash of light, a missing arm. Friends turned to ash before his eyes. Another memory- another flash. Soldiers shooting death towards him and his friends- And then white-hot-hatred overcoming. Terror-driven swinging. Zombies, and the horrifying stench of a London overtaken by the Living Dead. Anole's mind is fractured. Tortured. Battered by trauma. Still, the young man stands with teen-age skepticism and hope. Always, that ray of youthful, idealistic hope. "What sort of technologies?" he asks.
Rain is a good audience, though she hms softly. There's a lot of nice idea. It's nice to see folks getting along though. "The trouble is knowing who is a whackadoo in time. Some of them are very good at keeping their heads down," She notes quietly. "It is one of reality's ultimate cruelties." Betrayal. Or even how one DEFINES a whackadoo. Rain inclines her head as she listens. Seems like a nice enough idea. For now, she doesn't intrude. Sometimes comforting is nice, especially for someone who's likely had it way harder than her.
Grodd smiles, happy that the youth knows who Marx is he looks over at the healer and says, " Thank you for healing me, I feel great. I really would like to study that some time. " Then he looks back to Anole as he asks a great question, "I believe in some government, just not huge government. I plan on controlling part of the world while allowing others to control other portions. We divide the world up into super-powers, each with something the others need. Like today, America produces most of the food for China as an example, we have five leaders who never change and a citizen elected council who change every 4 years or if the citizens vote them out. If one nation can grow limitless food, another can produce limitless metals and another controls the oil and so forth and so on, then we will have a balance of co-dependence rather than a threat of mutual annihilation. There will be governance for the people, by the people, with the ability to vote digitally with completely security because your very DNA will be your identification. If your representative fails you, then you can switch your approval to dislike. If they get more dislikes than likes then it will kick them out of office and a new election will be held digitally." then he stops to breath and goes on..
"Also I plan on introducing quantum computing which will allow us to create vast virtual worlds. Why spend your life here, in the flesh, when you can live what seems like hundreds of thousands of years in a virtual world that can be anything, anywhere. where you can be anything, any where, reinventing yourself as you see fit. Like a video game you live in. A large portion of the population will embrace that reality. Entire virtual civilizations will rise and fall in the life span of one human who is unplugged from the net. With virtual lives they will be moving, thinking and creating so much more quickly than flesh and bone humans can, entire libraries of good books will be written every day. You simply won't live long enough to read it all and you can't even imagine the movies. I plan on ending war by doing something no one has ever done, I plan on eliminating the need for it and giving everyone something better to do."
Anole blinks. "Really now?" he says, an eye-ridge raising slowly. "Sounds pretty complicated, and difficult to check or balance." he says with a touch of uncertainty. "Honestly," he continues, "Its a little beyond me. All of it. I mean, isn't that just.. I don't know.. Rampant escapism?"
Rain listens. She smiles as Grodd looks over and thanks her. "You're welcome. And I don't mind. Though, it is magic. I'm a witch," She explains. "Sorta. I kinda got booted from the coven for not having enough power or - but that's a long story," She waves a hand. She listens though, hming softly. "It is important for leaders to remember that they are beholden to the population," She notes quietly. "But that is pretty ambitious," She considers. "Co-dependence - would be tough. Some powers might get the idea to try to take two things, though- I suspect you've a contingency for all of that," She inclines her head.
"That's the beauty of it, it'll be an automate system of government. Real time voting, day or night. Because everything is digital there is complete transparency as well. the power will be in the hands of the people but there will be one ruler for each nation with the power to stop things if it gets out of control. It takes the bullsh*t out of the system by removing the middlemen. " then he gives the big hand a squeeze and lets it go before he looks back at Rain, "Yes, I plan on making sure the leaders stay in line by offering them something they can't get anywhere else, immortality. I am 154 years old myself. Still working on true immortality, but I'm getting close. Actually with that healing factor." he looks back at Anole, "I would like to study your DNA at some point. Which is one of the reasons I gave you my phone number. "
"Honestly, and with all due respect, I'm somewhat possessive of my DNA." Anole responds, almost flatly. "As for immortality- well." He gives a shrug. "Knowing that one day, I'm going to die. And that there isn't likely anything after that death keeps me conscious of how I waste my breath."
"I see. Interesting," Rain looks thoughtful. She looks to Grodd and hms softly. "Well. I've never been good at puzzling out that sort of thing," She admits. "That's why I stuck to engineering and not political science," She notes. "And 154? That's pretty good." grin. She looks to Anole, hm. "Unfortunately, the afterlife or not is a question that tends to have an answer which is a one way street. I shouldn't keep you two chattering all day. I'm behind on herb gathering," She rubs the back of her head. "But you know, it was a pleasure to meet both of you. If you need a ride down later, I don't mind a passenger or two on the flying broomstick."
Grodd says, "Completely understandable. You have no reason to trust me, I know how it is. I hope to have an opportunity one day to earn that trust." Then he says, "But it's late and I should get going." He makes a show of testing out his big foot with it's healed up toes then he stands up slowly to make sure everything is still working properly. "You do good work. I feel good as new." he says as he walks around on all fours, flexing his back side to side. He purposefully accidentally walks over to the place where Anole was shot in the foot and picks up a small bloody stone in his massive fingers while he circles and tests out his back. "Though, if you two youngsters will forgive me, I'm going to take the easy way down. Teleportation really is helpful when you get to be a grandfather." Grodd reaches up with his empty hand and presses behind his ear then an energy field whisks him away with some of that advanced technology he was talking about. Hopefully Anole will never notice.
"No. Climbing is sort of my thing." Anole says, with a little smile as he gives a hop to a lower ledge, then again like a certain friendly neighborhood spider-person, he was wall-crawling his way down the ledge easily. "Nice to meet the two of you!" he offers out to both Grodd and Rain both. Down the cliff he goes, none-the wiser of Grodd's theft of genetic code.
