18108/Campus Rabblerousing

Campus Rabblerousing
Date of Scene:	30 May 2024
Location:	Empire State University
Synopsis:	A protest ends up in an arrest.
Cast of Characters:	Paige Guthrie, Monet St. Croix, Tyler Madison, Kyle Rayner, Kevin Sydney

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Paige Guthrie has posed:
Ahhh, Wednesday.

Just another day on campus. It's relatively quiet considering people are getting ready for the last days of classes and eventual finals week, but as always, not too far from the student union at the edge of campus is a rally. A protest really. College students love doing them for one cause or another.

In this case, it's a group of seemingly human and some no-so-humans picketting with signs of Mutant Lives Matter and Mutant Rights Are Human Rights and the trolly I'm With Stupid.

Amongst the crowd is a fierce blonde, dressed in an ESU babydoll t-shirt and a pair of snug fitting jeans, holding a bull horn. "WHAT DO WE WANT?" Paige yells.

"JUSTICE!" the crowd repeats.

"WHEN DO WE WANT IT?" she continues to call out.

"NOW!"

"We must demand that the police officers are brought to trial. They gun downed and innocent child in Mutanttown. Without justice, there is no peace!" she cries out with fist in the air.

Naturally, there are bystanders. Those that just want to post on Tiktok and other social media. Then there's those passersby just trying to get dinner at the union or head to class. Then there's those that start to listen. And finally, the trouble makers. It seems a counterprotest might be looming as at least one member in an FOH t-shirt arrives across the street.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix is here less of a participant and more on standby in the event there's another attack on the demonstrators. She would watch, leaning against the wall of a nearby building and surveying the area, sending out telepathic sweeps to try and pick up any hostile intents. These sorts of things tended to not last long without interruption, and with the way it always played in the media the instigators would be the mutant rights demonstrators.

So her job today was to make sure there was no interference, or in the event that violence happened, to minimize it. She finds these sorts of things nominally ineffective. Simply making campaign donations was a far, far more efficient way to earn recognition.

Tyler Madison has posed:
A Mutant Rights rally might sound like the last place that you would find a human. Not a metahuman, /just/ a human.

But while Tyler Madison have been born into great power, he was born into a position of understanding it. The various supervillains -- and it was almost always supervillains -- that came into his father's workshop over the years definitely gave him a different point of view than most people. Outside of the highly publicized fights and ranting speeches, a lot of them were just normal people.

So why not mutants, too?

Granted, he'd originally come into the city on a supply run. An attempt to get to battlefields before Damage Control could, and see if he couldn't get his hands on any tech left behind to tinker with. Maybe incorporate into his own gear. Maybe just learn about... but knowledge was power and when he'd gotten word of the protest, and counter-protest, he figured it'd be worth showing up. No /armor/ today but the hoodie hides a couple of his favorite gadgets, just in case the situation gets hairy.

So at the moment, he's among those spectators who stopped to listen to what the protestors had to say... not taking either side just yet, though he definitely has his own biases like most people.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle Rayner is toward the front of the crowd in costume. A few people may point out, but those that question, "Why are you here?" He'll be quick to answer, "Because I know a thing or two about Justice," and people can see he's a card carrying member of the Justice League. Yes, it's cheesy. Yes, the response isn't a team response. However, he knows that an ally with some Justice League pull, however small, may turn a couple of extra heads toward the cause. So, he'll make a spectacle of himself if more eyes get on the issue.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
"WHEN WILL THEY STOP KILLING US?!?" Paige practically screams with a passionate tone and a fist in the air. "They've already got us in the ghettoed of mutant town. They've already tried to exterminate us in Genosha. Now, they're going after our youth?!? When will the humans stop?!? What will it take to make them happy?!?" she cries out, getting the crowd more riled up.

As the counter protest continues to grow larger, one large muscular man yells at Paige, "Because you're terrorists! You kill us! You harm us!" he cries out.

And Paige yells back, "People say it's because humans fear what they don't understand. You and I both know it's bullshit! It's because you're afraid we're GOING TO REPLACE YOU!"

With that, another calls out, "Oh wait! I know that bitch! She's a terrorist!"

Monet St. Croix has posed:
All right, time to move in over for the interception. As things go to escalate to yelling, Monet goes to ponder. She can't just shut their minds down, there are too many of them and they're getting too agitated. Plus, it would be too blatant done if so. She would go to take her fingers up to her lips, and after giving an alert to the other members of Xavier's present she would go to blow a piercing whistle that would echo through the grounds like an air raid siren.

"You are guaranteed teh right to protest PEACEFULLY. As are they." Said to both protestors and counter-protestors. And hopefully a scary looking, very tall and gorgeous woman yelling at the group that was calling out 'terrorist'. Then again the fact of who Monet -was- might very well not help things.

Tyler Madison has posed:
There's definitely truth to words being spoken, here. Genosha? ... he'll admit, he wasn't following the news too closely on that one, but it's definitely prompting the thought to do research on exactly what happened there. The big guy on the other side just makes Tyler roll his eyes, "And I'm sure the Green Goblin's a mutant, too." he mutters, trying not to laugh.

The arrival of the woman trying to play peacekeeper draws his attention quickly. When two sides want to yell at one another, someone telling them to stop becomes a common enemy. This... could be about to get really interesting. "Hope you brought some popcorn," he tells the person next to him, "Or at least a riot shield."

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle will push himslef orward more, just because of the tension between both groups. He'll have the ring at the ready. A barrier could come up at a drop of a hat. "Last thing anyone wants is violence," he says to both sides despite being pro-mutant. This may get him some unwanted attention. People may accuse him of being a mutant or even betraying his race. Both make his eyes roll, which the mask mostly conceals.

"If you think mutants are different, you need to get out in space more. People with people and purple skin are quite common. I know people with multiple arms, too," he chimes in friendly. Trying to bring in a perspective of, 'this is small potatoes when it comes to the vast residents of the galaxy. Humans may look oddly by standards because they come off as ordinary, maybe even underdeveloped.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
Looking over to see Monet heading on over causes Paige to snort just a little, "WE -ARE- PEACEFUL, M." Oh look, she's familiar with the other woman it seems. Yelling is peaceful on some level.

Then she looks out to the crowd, "And now just the millions in Genosha! There were mutants slaughtered in Sokovia! They were brought together like chattel and slaughtered!" she continues, giving a little bit of some bloody mutant history. "All because humans are scared they will be replaced!" Ooooh, them's fighting words for sure.

"WE WILL NOT BE REPLACED!" cries out a few of the Friends of Humanity. "See! She is a terrorist! She wants to wipe /us/ out!" another yells in response, as both sides continue to get riled up even further.

All it takes is a little spark to ignite the powder keg. A young girl holding a cat is on Paige's side, not shouting, but not being completely passive either. She's holding a Mutant Lives Matter pickett, when a bottle is thrown and hits her, cutting the cat she's holding and her skin.

With a yell, the girl starts to gain feline features, and then becomes full fledged catgirl (much like Jenny Stavros, but not purple) looking mightily confused. "What?!?" she says with a bit of a purr.

Another of the mutant side sees her bleeding. "FUCKERS!" and starts charging at the other side. Surely, the humans threw the first punch, erm, bottle, so to speak as passions are flared on both sides.

Anyone sensitive to such things might notice a wave pulsing over both sides, furthering their passions, their anger, their hate. Let the hate flow through you.... yesssssssssss....

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Well, so much for this deescalating and having both sides just simply stand a few meters apart yelling at one another and leaving it to screaming. This was getting very, very bad quickly and something was escalating it. Someone, something, or.. She can't tell right now, but they have to separate the groups before this turns into another free for all.

Monet goes to float up in the air and roars out, "All of you idiots STOP!" Launching herself up several meters, hovering threateningly.

"I am your worst nightmare. I am a super-strong Muslim mutant with PMS. So back off right NOW." Her hand would go up to clench in a fist and crack her knuckles. "Or I can show you just how strong I am." Another threat is yelled at them in Arabic.

Tyler Madison has posed:
Tyler didn't hate it when he was right, but he sure wished he had a way to armor up in a quick and easy manner. That, or least transport it to his location in a hurry. These were notes that he was definitely making and and keeping in mind for future upgrades; nothing like action, and the need for equipment to do things it doesn't yet, to spark the creative juices.

So when the bottles start getting thrown, Tyler ducks back into the crowd. Hoodie is pulled up over his head, a pair of big sunglasses are shoved over his eyes... and when he's reasonably sure nobody's looking, or at least nobody who can easily recognize him, he quickly starts equipping his 'extra' hands, securing the devices to one wrist at a time. It'll take a moment to get into the action if Monet's threat doesn't calm the crowd -- unlikely -- but he'll be ready if it doesn't.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle flies up above the group, too. When he rises so does a green construct that takes the shape of a large, thick concrete wall. The kind of walls neighbors put up hen they -really- don't like each other.

"EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" he yells out to the groups. Oh, he's going to try and keep the groups separated. An energy field covers his person. Not an orb, but a nice layer of protection.

"ALL OF YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS!" he cries out trying to reason with both groups. Although, those bearing the "F.o.H." gear may need a firmer set of words. Maybe a couple of smacks, Kyle will concede.

Kyle just hopes the walll, or himself, stops the beer bottles flying toward mutants. "We can be peaceful," he says trying to softne his words while projecting them.

Kevin Sydney has posed:
Morph was there all along. Being a metamorph comes with its perks. Today's perk, when you see a bunch of muscle-headed jerkface mutant haters forming to counter people do the good work, you 'join' them, and you sow just a little discord.

He's a big rotund gentleman wearing sun-glasses with a baseball cap and a big red beard. He yells out, "Yea, I hear they can kill ya if they look at you cross ways. Snuff you all out. Doesn't matter if they can cure cancer or save thousands of people from catastrophe. Cause they -MIGHT- just decide you ain't worth havin' around. They ain't safe to have around like guns. You can trust a gun!"

Paige Guthrie has posed:
The frightened catgirl mutant, still bloodied, starts to run off. Is she embarassed? Frightened? Or both?

Still, those around will feel something. Any emotions they're feeling are heightened. Passions become flared. Even those who were once mere bystanders start picking a side. No one is truly impartial. People will naturally go to one side or another, and as people gather, each side gets progressively bigger.

"See! Like always! THEY START IT! We cannot trust our safety to the flatscans! WE HAVE TO DEMAND JUSTICE! WE HAVE TO MAKE OUR OWN JUSTICE!" Paige calls out as annoyance becomes anger and frustration an anger turns to violence.

When she hears M's threat, she looks up towards her once classmate and squints her eyes, "Just because you're in the big leagues doesn't mean ah can't take you on, M." she says challenging her.

Meanwhile, as the wall keeps most of the crowd separated from each other, that separation doesn't last long. Flared emotions and anger fully ignite as people start climbing over the wall.

As one of them hears what Morph (the rotund gentleman) says, they cry out. "SEE! MUTANTS ARE GOING TO KILL US ALL! WAAAAAAAAH!"

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would hiss down at Paige, "And you'll have to put that -small- brain you have to work, Guthrie." Monet's arrogance is now being brought out. With all those manipulations being pressed out, apparently her ego is joining forth the building conflagration. "But save yourself tearing off your little carbon flakes and make yourself useful." Monet goes to move head to the crowd with her back to Paige.

Dismissively, arrogantly as she seems to just focus over on going in to try and separate people by lightly shoving them apart.

Tyler Madison has posed:
Emotions are getting supercharged? Well, in Tyler's case it's curiosity that holds the forefront... mixed with a certain amount of empathy for the side that people automatically think the worst of. Which definitely makes choosing a side easy. He makes his way into the pro-mutant side of the fracas, and takes the position best suited to sating that curiousity; defense. So, he stands and focuses, arms pointed towards the sky so that he can launch those grappling hands and any further incoming objects. Definitely not quite Mister Fantastic here, but it's a start.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle tries hard to make those walls extend upward and then curve. His aim is the warped wall from Ninja Warrior. Something incredibly like it and would keep people from getting atop of the wall. The last thing he wants to do is suddenly put people in construct domes. People will call him a jailer. So, he's trying to make the terrain a little difficult.

However, this may take a little bit more focus because the construct has to change without hurting anyone. Eight people linger on those walls. So, he doesn't want to squish, harm or anything negative.

So, it takes a little more willpower to focus, change and then maintain. People can still cause the thing to go down. It'd just take a lot to get there.

Sadly, hatred is determien so maybe people could scale his "warped wall."

Kevin Sydney has posed:
The rotund gentleman clutches his head and grunts out, "Oh no! One them muties can... turn you into a mutie. I feel it. It's inside my head. Noooooo...."

The disguised Morph writhes back and forth, clawing at his beard. He tugs at his beard and a little skin rips off revealing green scales!

He howls, "Noooo! I'm normal, don't do this to me!"

Falling to his knees, he continues to rip off skin revealing more reptilian features. "Ruuuuun! Save yourselves! Before they make you like them!"

He weeps openly, appearing as some kind of mix between a lumberjack and a crocodile. "I'll never be able to face my mama again!"

Finally, he concludes in a zombie-like tone, "Peace and Equality for All. Make Love, Not Hate. Vote the Lizard People for president."

He ~hopes~ he's able to play on some of the natural fear and paranoia with this little bit of theatre, preying upon people's fears about being abnormal. If he's lucky, maybe some of those in immediate ear shot will think again and rout instead of joining the fray.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
If only bigots were as physically fit as those on Ninja Warrior, would they be able to scale the 'warped green wall', but alas, none of them are, so the two sides remain separated.

As people around them start to take notice of Morph, there's a few stifled chortles before laughter begins to ensud through both sides of the crowd. But it's not all of them. There's still a good half of the protestors on both side eager to harm one another as now bricks are being thrown from one side and rocks to the other.

One hits Paige in the back and she stumbles forward, her shirt torn, and metallic skin revealed underneath. "At least I'm trying to affect -change- within the system. What do you do? Hide with your superhero friends and just fight bad guys? No actual systematic change? Right, why don't -you- do something useful for once!" she calls out to the oh so arrogant M.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would snap over at Paige now, "I make something /useful/ of myself, Guthrie. I've made something more of myself than a whiny, mouthy teenage brat from hillbilly country. And yes, you tried. Do you want a participation sticker for it? A gold star? I'm sure that you can find someone that will give you an approving pat on the head and tell you you've been a good girl."

Ordinarily the two if not quite being friends didn't particularly have any friction (not like it was with Monet and Jubilee, at least).. Monet was at least no longer paying attention to beating on people.

Tyler Madison has posed:
The hands originally built for the Handyman are definitely getting a proper combat trial, the corded, prehensile hands being fired out and retracted over and over again to snatch the airborne missiles coming for the pro-mutant side.

And /only/ the pro-mutant side. The ones going in the other direction? Those are ignored. Color that a win for the man pulling the strings! Of course, while he can catch some of them, some of them -- like the one that hit Paige -- get through. When he sees just what it /does?/ His eyes widen for a moment.

"Okay, that was cool." he says aloud and mostly to himself, making a mental note for future reference. There's inspiration to be gleaned from that.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
"You're useful to me!" Kyle says to Monet. It's not the first time they crossed paths. His haze goes back to the crowd. How the F.o.H. people struggle with the warped wall. He'll look at the people struggling, "Do you guys even want to make it to the second round!?" Kyle shakes his head at them.

His attention slips to Morph and he genuinely laughs at the mention of "Lizard People."

The tension builds up and Kyle looks to the arguing mutants, "Hey. We're all on the same side!" he calls to the pair knowing this might get bad between others. Tensions are clearly high.

"Where is Tony Stark's unlimited credit card when you need it?!" he figured buying everyone tacos would de-escalate this situation.

Kevin Sydney has posed:
When Morph sees a mutant, namely Paige, get hit with the brick, his tone changes. Using his superior metamorph abilities, his legs take on the shape of something akin to a scaly kangaroo. Crouching, he leaps over the wall and supporting construct to land near M and Paige.

He kneels down and picks up the brick then gazes back toward the protesters. He reverts back to his normal albino humanoid self sans clothes but also sans genitals to keep things age appropriate for the potential media.

That same albino form then begins to roid out into something that looks like a white hulk with a very large (maybe comically large mouth). It then yells -very- loudly.

"If I see another mutant get hit with a brick. The thrower is going to swallow that brick!" His hand clinches and the brick vaporizes.

He then roars, "GOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOME". A similarly large tongue undulates with the command, large droplets of spit spraying into the air.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
...

It starts with a little snicker. Then a chortle. It seems the remaining anger quickly dissipates. Passion is passion, and anything remotely funny that can tickle the funny bone is further enhanced. What starts as simple chuckling amongst the crowds turns into almost raucous laughter, causing a few to fall back clutching their stomachs as they laugh heartily.

That leaves Paige confused as whoever caused the emotional waves disappears, and its effects with it. In the end, it leaves the entire crowd somewhat dazed, with a slight hangover-y feeling, and general confusion.

"Wha? Why was I so?" and then she sees M, and nosescrunches. "Next time, go help me with one of these rallies." sounding much calmer.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Her fist is clenched up over and ready to start swinging at the kentucky fried.. Monet goes to blink for a few moments, whatever spell was being woven over everyone sort of vanishing over as she's disoriented. "Ah.. Yes. Perhaps. If you class it up a bit and do it so actually someone pays attention." She still has to keep her dignity.

And try and backtrack on whomever the hell didt his to them. And sic Betsy on them.

Tyler Madison has posed:
Morph's warning... well, it gets the point across pretty well, and while he wasn't on the offense in the fracas... when something that looks like a Legally Distinct Hulk roars at you (and everyone else) to go home?

...if you've got much sense in your head, you do *exactly that*.

Besides that, as he was starting to back away it seemed like the 'interesting' part of the day was coming to a close anyways, so rather than stay and find out what happens next... Tyler instead withdraws and blends his way back into the crowd, seeming like just another student among the masses.

Kevin Sydney has posed:
Morph blinks as people begin to chortle and then snicker. He brow furrows then in his comedic superior judgement, he just plays along.

"Hey, stop laughing! I'm being serious here!" The large looney toon tongue flaps from his giant gaping maw.

"What, do I have something in my teeth?" The big maw closes and a whole bush appears to be stuck between two giant teeth when it opens again.

He points, "Well, do I?"

After things seem to have fully dispersed, he adds clothes to his form and shrinks down to normal size, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, when it works, it works."

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle just stares at the tension that suddenly fades. He starts to scan the crowd for a gold face plate of featureless mask. An old league villain that has that kind of power. He figured it wasn't that person, but that emotional shift seems too forced. Anger like that takes at least a -little- bit of time to cool off.

"What happened?" he will ask wanting his suspicions to be reward. Kyle's been looking into emtions lately. so, it's why he's a little vested in this subject.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
"I... I dunno." admits Paige, nosewrinkling as she just looks to the group of heroes. The back of her shirt is still torn, and there's that metallic glean underneath, but she doesn't shed here, at least not completely.

"I just... I just felt so angry." a beat. "You could almost call it righteous indignation."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would shake her head after a moment, "We were played. Someone assaulted us telepathically. And did so over the entire crowd. Rather subtly." They could have nudged it to all out violence rather easily. And the fact they got past her defenses gives her a chill. She's not weak..

She's not weak. She tells herself that.

Kevin Sydney has posed:
Morph plants his hands on his hips and laughs, "Well, I guess my dumb luck strikes again then. Take that telepath. Bow before my mighty humor."

The pearly whites remain in a big grin though he whispers through his teeth, "If what you are saying is true, M. Maaaybe, we should all get the hell out of here before they manage to rile things up again."

He eyes her and then Paige then looks to the others. He squints at Kyle and then gives him a thumbs up, the thumb is exaggerated in size.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle has a lot of questions but a lot of them get answered as he works thorugh them. "So, basically someone was trying to use this as a powder keg to further something else," he's not sure what. It could just be the decimation of human-mutant relations or something as a biproduct. Either way, it's chilling. "Anyone got a friend that's good in tech? Security footage might be our only aid here," Kyle admits since the person was a needle in a haystack thanks to the crowd.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
Dr. McCoy immediately comes to mind, but she keeps mum for now. "No one was hurt...."

And before she can say anything the cops are on the scene. As they start arresting a few of the FOH members, one officer steps behind her and takes her arms. "Ma'am, you're being arrested for disturbing the peace. Come with me..." and as she's drawn away, she calls out, her eyes opened from surprise, "Call my brother! He's a cop!"