1969/Cleaning up the mess

Cleaning up the mess
Date of Scene:	05 June 2020
Location:	Laundry Room
Synopsis:	1969 <CANCELLED>
Cast of Characters:	Laura Kinney, Julio Richter

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Laura Kinney has posed:
     The raid on the Marauders was only a few hours ago, and things are pretty much back to normal. Well, besides Gabby being missing, as normal as things ever were for Laura. She sits crosslegged in a chair across from the TV, occasionally stirring a piece of broom handle that sticks out of a storage bin that's been repurposed as a washtub. The top was likely a wash (heh) but the pants were probably salvagable. They didn't have a giant hole in them. Another rerun of MASH starts, and a bit of hydrogen peroxide is added to the reddish water in the bin.

Julio Richter has posed:
Given that the particular laundry Julio is looking to deal with today is an X-men uniform (albeit a training one), he decides to skip the chute and deal with it personally. He's still not clear on exactly what secrecy protocols he's supposed to be following regarding the whole 'sub-basement full of paramilitary freedom fighters' thing, but figures it pays not to piss anyone off. (Particularly anyone with the aforementioned paramilitary subbasement.)

So, when the irrepressible jumpiness after the underground mission has faded, and he finally feels like he has caught his breath, he heads down to the laundry room, wearing a sleeveless pink T-shirt with faded print and jeans, carrying a laundry bag. He pauses at the doorway, the noise from the TV tipping him off that the room is occupied, and actually tries to sneak in -- ineffectively, one can assume, given who's there. His demeanor changes when he recognizes Laura, though: he stops tiptoeing and takes several steps toward her.

"Talon?" he ventures. "I didn't expect to see you down here. Are you OK? After..." he trails off, deciding it would be stupid to identify her injury earlier as the cause of his concern. She surely remembers.

Laura Kinney has posed:
     "Laura, in here. And I am fine." She lifts up one side of the tank top to reveal totally unmarred skin, before letting it fall again. "I buy clothes in bulk, so there is no major loss. I think I will be able to save the pants." The garment in question is lifted out of the tub, examined critically and sniffed, before being returned from whence it came.

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio raises his eyebrows in surprise. He has seen her familial healing factor in action before, but it's still amazing. "Guau," he comments with a small smile. "I'm glad for the pants, but I was really asking about your liver."

Turning away, he undoes the drawstring on his laudry bag and tosses his dark coverall into an empty washing machine, staying silent as he sets up the cycle and starts the machine. Finally, he heads to another chair near her, takes a seat, and continues, "So... that was pretty intense. I'm not used to that sort of thing, but you seemed to really know what you were doing."

Laura Kinney has posed:
     "I assume it is fine. It has always gotten better." Not like there's really a way to tell if your liver's functioning properly, after all. Green eyes track Julio over to his seat, before returning to the TV. "I have been doing it all my life. ...You did not have to do it, though. Now Scott and Piotr will be mad at you and not just me." She can handle them being mad at her. None of it matters as long as she gets Gabby back, and it' snot like they have any authority over her.

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio leans forward, propping his elbows on his knees, and grimaces down at his hands. "Yeah...I've been wanting to talk to you about that, actually. I don't know how strict that rule is -- I mean, I didn't lie about what I've done when I came here -- I don't really understand why..."

Thoughts jostle for control of his mouth, then finally he shakes his head, huffs out a breath, and settles on: "He tried to kill you. Maybe he didn't succeed, but that's all you. Most of the rest of us would be very, very dead, not doing laundry." He wavers left and right for a second, then adds: "I like your tank top, by the way."

Laura Kinney has posed:
     "I could have dodged it, but the fight needed to be ended quickly. I chose to end it sooner by taking a non-disabling hit." The stick makes a further two revolutions in Laura's hand. "Some of the X-Men do not understand. Some enemies cannot be subdued, and removed from the board permanently. They will simply return, stronger than before. I prefer to prevent the future pain they would inevitably cause." She tilts her head to one side, exhaling sharply through her nose at a particularly dark bit of humor on the screen. "You are not experienced in combat like I am. You experienced a strong emotional reaction when I was hurt, like I would if one of my family or friends were hurt, and acted to eliminate the threat." Clinical, but accurate. "Your powers do not seem to allow for precision, so your strike did more damage than some others would." She glances down at her top. "...Thank you. I like it too."

Julio Richter has posed:
"Yeah... enemies," Julio echoes, reaching up to scratch at the back of his neck with a pained expression. "I mean, after what they did to Julian? If they're doing stuff like that to the others?" He trails off again, and his curled-back arm starts to tremor. He holds it out in front of him, looking at it with an expression of annoyance, and takes a few deep breaths, letting the seismic energy bleed away harmlessly. "Maldición -- Thought I'd already used it all up."

Once his arm stills, he lowers it to his lap again and continues. "Anyway: I don't feel bad about what I did to that guy. Am I supposed to feel bad?" He locks eyes with her for a second, lip turning with uncertainty. "That's not snark, I'm serious. Am I a bad person because I just feel kind of... dead?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
     "The kind of people who torture and make clones to use as weapons are in the group of people who must be eliminated to prevent future suffering. I am going to find them, and I am going to make them pay for hurting Gabby. And her boyfriend." Laura tenses towards the end of her statement, droplets of blood forming on her knuckles at the word /pay/. She catches herself though, and quickly dunks her hands into the water. "It was a kill or be killed situation for you, and you did what you have to to survive. As you are not yet used to combat, you are likely still experiencing an adrenaline crash. I do not think you are a bad person, just like I do not think I am a bad person. We are people, and we do what we have to do. I recommend chocolate and foods you enjoy, and spending time doing things you enjoy." ...Maybe not the most conventional advice and thoughts, but it's honest and what Laura herself seems to be doing. Although, her upbringing may leave her a little biased.

Julio Richter has posed:
"Lo siento -- bad choice of words," Julio says, rubbing at his eyes with his fingertips. "/I/ feel dead? You should see the /other/ guy." He doesn't smile.

"Adrenaline crash? Is that what it's called?" It's hard to tell whether or not he noticed Laura's claws instinctively twitching outward -- he ceratainly doesn't comment on it. Instead, he takes another deep breath, and then finally does smile, wryly. "Chocolate, huh? Let the laundry wait?" he asks, raising his eyebrows pointedly. It looks like neither of them is exactly going ham on the self-care.

Sitting back in his seat, he sighs and continues, "I guess what made me so upset about what Piotr said to you was that thing about, I guess, 'oh, that would make us just as bad as they think we are.'" The paraphrase is delivered in an awkward imitation of a Russian accent. English isn't Julio's first language either, so it's sort of a game of accent telephone. "Well, I've heard the way the bigots talk. 'What if some kid gets powers and they go off by accident and a bunch of people die?' We don't want to be as bad as they think we are? I /am/ as bad as they think we are!" He throws up his hands, which are shaking in the more common, non-mutant-powered way.

Laura Kinney has posed:
     "Yes. Your body is recovering from the stress hormones released to prepare you to fight or run." Laura raises one eyebrow slightly, before reaching into a messenger bag next to her chair and pulling out a chocolate bar. "I am doing both. I must do laundry before the blood stains set. otherwise they will be nearly impossible to remove. And I enjoy MASH." Hawkeye and Trapper are timeless, after all. "And yes. I was angry because he said I was as bad as the people who made me. The people who torture children, grow people to use them as weapons and tools." She tenses again, shifting a bit in her chair and unwrapping the chocolate so she can take a bite. "I am unsure how much you have been told about my history."

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio eyes Laura as she snacks, wearing a rueful half-smile. So it's really just him ignoring his own needs, then. Figures.

"Nada," he assures Laura with a small shrug. "I know you're Gabby's sister, but that's about it. I don't think she would talk about your business like that." He gives her a shrug, but his eyes are sympathetic. He might not know the story, but there are enough clues in what she just said for him to form am idea of at least some of what she has gone through.

MASH, however, seems to draw a blank. Seems it didn't rerun that often where he's from.

Laura Kinney has posed:
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     "I was created by an organization who wanted to replicate the Weapon X program. I was the result, and I was used as an assassin until I escaped." Another bite of chocolate, before the bar is snapped in half and half of it is offered to Julio. It's high quality dark chocolate, 72 percent. "This does not make me a bad person. The things they made me do are not my fault. I did what I had to to survive, until I was able to escape and destroy the bunker." Nom. Chocolate is good. "I am not... normal. I can never be. But if I can keep people like them from being able to hurt others? It does not matter if I am good or not. It matters that the world is better."

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio reaches out, accepting the other half of the chocolate and smiling his thanks. When he takes his first bite, his eyes widen a little at just how good it is, and he resolves to take his time and savor it.

Swallowing that first bite, almost regretting having to do so, he tells her, "I don't think we should want to be normal. For most people, normal just means ignoring what's wrong around them." He shrugs and wrinkles his nose. "I think it's better to fight it."

He takes a deep, sighing breath, and elaborates, "I just hope it makes /us/ better if we fight it."

Given what she has just shared with him, he feels like he should explain himself as well. "Because, I mean, I feel terrible about killing all those people. Of course I do -- they didn't do anything to me. Well, most of them," he says, slumping back. "But that's not what I feel worst about."

He stops, then leans forward, locking eyes with Laura. "Those deaths were an accident. And what you did, you were forced to do. But that's not the only thing I did."

Laura Kinney has posed:
     "I have also engaged in an ongoing guerilla warfare campaign against various organized crime entities in New York City. I do not feel bad about that either. It is good that you feel bad about accidentally hurting people though. That means that you have empathy. More people in this world need it." Laura makes an internal note to give Julio the address where she buys her chocolate.

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio actually smiles a little at that. "You're a busy woman," he says, trying a bit of gallows humor. "But I don't know if feeling bad is enough. When I came to this country, I was detained. They put me in this tiny room with 30 other guys. It got disgusting, fast. I sat there for months and months, but no one could help me. I spoke good English, so I had it better than most, but still. I couldn't escape, because the only time I had used my powers, I destroyed three entire city blocks. If I did that in there, everyone locked up with me would die, and probably so would I. They weren't going to let me stay without knowing who I was, but I couldn't /say/ who I was or they'd deport me and I'd probably get killed. It was a perfect, inescapable trap."

He pauses and looks at her, then asks rhetorically, "So how am I here now?"

Punctuating the following with sharp gestures, he explains: "I'm here because after months and months I finally looked at everyone else in that tiny room and decided: ¡al diablo! Maybe we're all better off dead anyway, and blasted the walls down." He sits back quickly. "I looked at them and decided I was willing to watch them all die. But then they didn't. We all escaped together." He leans forward again. "And then one of those men looked at me and called me a hero. /That/ is what gives me nightmares."