4213/Quentin AcQuired

Quentin AcQuired
Date of Scene:	24 November 2020
Location:	Mel's Roadside Diner
Synopsis:	Quentin does weird stuff. Emma, Noriko, and Gabby frown. They all come to an agreement.
Cast of Characters:	Quentin Quire, Emma Frost, Noriko Ashida, Gabby Kinney

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Quentin Quire has posed:
Westchester is no stranger to weirdness going on, but sometimes things get uncomfortably weird right on the X-Men's doorstep.

Today is one of those days.

Everything is going as usual. Cars, pedestrians, birds, all going about their business.

Until suddenly the cars stop, the people no longer move, and even the birds stop where they are in the air. Everything just kind of freezes, and there's a massive shockwave of telepathic energy. It's difficult to tell if it's a beacon, someone just violently manifesting, or someone using so much telepathic energy all at once that it created the shockwave. But regardless, it's felt for miles, further away depending on how powerful the psychic picking it up is.

Within Mel's diner itself, everyone's also frozen, except one person. A pink haired early twenties guy in a leather jacket, carefully cutting through one of the fried pork chops on his plate of pork chops and mashed potatoes.

Everyone is frozen around him but he doesn't seem to be particularly alarmed. And any of the X-people who walk near the door will suddenly find the door opening for them on its own.

Emma Frost has posed:
    New to the mansion and the x-life herself, the young CEO has been wearing a borrowed hoodie and sweatpants since her capture/rescue from the goons who were in her control, until they suddenly were working for Shaw. And that's an exposition dump not really needed right here. Either way, the White Queen doesn't wear white, nor does she look like a queen currently. But she does know when someone needs help and the telepath certainly feels the need to take action and as she moves towards the garage she passes a couple of students as she moves in a quick step.

    "You, you hate me, follow me." She says towards Noriko, expecting the girl to be a sort of watchdog for the school and that what Emma is doing is actually within the School's parameters. Then passing by Gabby, the telepath points a finger and requests, "You, you can drive... You can drive?" She furrows her brows as she realizes she's pointing at Gabby, "You can drive." And shrugs it off quickly as she continues, "Follow me. We're going to help someone." And leads the duo to the garage and puts Gabby in the driver seat. "Take us ... that way." She points vaguely in the direction of the road and towards Quentin.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko just happens to be still when Emma spots her giving some peer a loud static shock that spurs her to look back at Noriko, dagger-eyed.  Noriko looks to Emma and nods.  "Looks like I need to go!" she says cheerily with one of her ironic smiles.  "Hey can I-" but then Noriko realizes she shouldn't really be showing off visibly on a highway or anything, so she hops in the back seat and sighs.  She pulls her feet up to the cushions, sits in the center, and makes sure she's not touching any metal.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney beams brightly at Emma with a quick nod of affirmation at the deduction. Yes, the small shrimp of a girl can drive. Even if sometimes reaching the pedals meant being on her toes, she could. It helped she'd mostly learned in Lorna's convertable but she had driven other vehicles with different levels of success. "I *am* sixteen," she points out cheerily along with, "Lorna taught me!" With that small explanation satisfied she flashes a grin at Noriko, tipping her head in the direction of the garage.

"Buckle up," she requests as she goes through the little time consuming checks of mirrors, shifting her seat forward, making sure the tank is full. And then as soon as her passengers are buckled in she peels out of the driveway with a whoop of excitement. At least until they get to the end of the manor drive where she, mercifully, starts driving like an actual citizen and not some crazed teenager.

Even so it doesn't take long before they're cruising along the streets forcing her to slow down as she passes by completely stopped cars. She rolls down the window to lean her head out looking at one completely 'frozen' car and driver with a little sniff of the air.

"Okay this is some heebie jeebie Twilight Zone stuff right here."

Quentin Quire has posed:
When the car pulls up, and the people inside seem distinctively... Xaviery, frozen pedestrians on the sidewalk unfreeze to turn to face them. The car's windows are forced down on their own, and the pedestrians are talk in unison, "Are you the X-Men? If you're not the X-Men, get the hell out."

Emma Frost has posed:
    "Yes. Yes it is." Emma says, having dismissed the Lorna comment, as Emma isn't sure who it is, even if they've met briefly at the Club some time ago, Emma's in a new world and trying to hide herself from former bosses, and as such, she's turning over a new leaf. Surely this will help apperances at the school. "Pull over here." Emma says, motioning to a spot near the bar, and then a look towards the two students, "Hold still a moment, I'm gonna..." She pauses to pull the girls closer in the car and she taps her forehead almost motherly agaisnt each of theirs. "Gonna, put some shields up from what we're going in to." Then the windows drop and Emma frowns, saving herself the trouble of bemoaning someone. Do they lie, do they... "We're with the x-men yes." Yeah that's a straight lie, but she's done worse, this month alone.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Okay I'll see you guys I'm going to go check it out," Noriko says quickly with a little bit of inward nervousness, though she boldly shoots out of the car, not caring what speed it is going and not waiting till Gabby slows down...kind of like she's done this trick before.  Even for someone with speed, it's possible to fall on one's face when not paying attention or getting off on an odd angle.

The teen notices when all the mouths start to move in unison so she stops in the middle of them.  Surround sound one-of-us.  Noriko's eyes widen.  Then she zips back to where Emma is, having not even heard about her shields.  She looks over to Gabby and mouths, 'Fucking weird.'

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney ends up forehead dapped by Emma, but thankfully she's already stopped the car. It was barely moving at all at this point to begin with which makes Noriko's speedy bolting all the easier if perhaps less impressive. She blinks a time or two, shrugs to herself, then puts the car in park.

"I don't know about these two, but I am. They're associates," she explains matter-of-fact. "I mean I'm one of the younger members and all but I've worked with them a lot, so I think I've got seniority as far as experience goes." With that she grins broadly, and holds out a fist toward one of the bystanders to flick out her claw in a single long 'bone finger' as if she were flipping them off. Just to show off that, yes, she was certainly not human so likely not lying. With the demonstration done she slips out of the car glancing back to the others. "Let's go meet our new friend!"

Quentin Quire has posed:
Suddenly, people are frozen again, and the diner door swings open. Quentin Quire looks directly over at their car, then looks to Noriko, squinting. "Telepathic shields. I won't go through the trouble of breaking them, since I guess this means I finally get to meet Jean Grey."

He looks to Gabby now, who says she's an X-Men, and takes note of her claw. "Wolverine Girl, got it." Then to the car, he observes. "That's a ridiculously hot blonde, not Jean Grey." He's silent for a long moment, then shrugs. "Upgrade."

"Alright, here's what's happening. I'm Quentin Quire, I'm probably in your files. Presumed dead omega level mutant from Genosha. I'm bored of being dead, I'd like to be an X-Men. I have a number of things to offer." Raising his hand, he causes Emma's door to whip open. "Hot Blonde, if you'll join us."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma didn't even really realize Noriko was gone, the girl's so fast, and then she's watching Gabby show off one of her claws with a sick kind of motion and then a rude gesture with that even. <<Maybe we don't give ourselves away so quickly, keep ourselves a piece of the element of surprise until we know what we're dealing with... Though this is obviously a tele specialist.>> Emma notes as she keeps the barriers up between the three women as she climbs out of the car and shuts the door and reaches up to fluff her hair behind her back. She might not look it, but she's regal.

    "I've got a name... but I'm protecting these... children." Emma says, looking towards Quentin, and lifts her chin and tilts her head to the side softly, and squints her icy blue eyes. "What's your game?" She asks rather directly, and then feels through her mind Gabby and Noriko, making sure she understands how they might feel about the rather outlandish young man.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko is pretty transparent.  First she laughs at Gabby bone-flipping off the pedestrians.  Then she laughs more sharply at the new guy.  She doesn't care.  Emma would be able to tell there isn't an ounce of fear in Noriko, for better or probably for worse.  But Emma doesn't have to scrape anything really.  It's Noriko.  "Hey dickhead.  People aren't objects."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney listens to what is said along with a nod here and there at the familiar guesses. "Not Wolverine-girl so much as one of his daughters." Pause. "Clones. Daughter-clones? It's complicated." This is all blurted out before Emma's mental nudge to keep things to themselves.

She does glance back to the woman offering a reassuring smile as if she were attempting to bolster the woman's courage. "But he's one of Lorna's folks. I'm sure he's okay," she begins before her eyes widen at the sight of something just to the side. There's a little gasp from her as she bolts toward what caught her attention.

With a leap the belies her shortness she reaches up with both hands to grab onto a pidgeon frozen mid-flight only to, not come down with the bird, but end up hanging there by the frozen creature. "... I was gonna be all 'oh look I caught a bird' but this might be cooler," she has to admit as she dangles there a few moments longer. Then she gives up.

Landing on her feet she starts for the diner with a shrug. "Why not? They might have pie!"

Quentin Quire has posed:
"Exactly what I said, I'm here to join the X-Men." Quentin suddenly snaps his fingers, and everything starts moving again. People are going about their business, and the cars are carefully even driving in their original direction. Some people get a little confused, as some people and a car seemingly have appeared out of no where. And others are immediately noticing missing time, but...

"We'll go have pie. And, for the sake of consent, do you mind if we all sit down and have this discussion in a far more interesting telepathic mindscape?" he asks, letting Gabby lead the way into the diner. "Then I'll explain what I'm offering."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma watches Gabby go and hang from a bird and stifles a snicker before she shakes her head and gives Noriko a nod before a hand lifts to try and simmer the girl down. "I'm sure he's aware, that people aren't toys to be played with like dolls." Emma says, a glare is shot towards Quentin, hinting that she expects him to get that fact. "But I could nibble at a slice." Emma remarks before motioning to the place Gabby has already entered.

    Emma steps over and takes a breath as she enters the building. "I don't think they've ever experienced that Quentin, and I'm interested to see how they'll react." Emma nods, and waits a moment, being sure she's ready to catch the two non-telepaths mentally and sever the connection should he be trying to trick them. The white queen isn't going to allow two students to get hurt on her first time out doing something like this for the school.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko doesn't instantly seem to react to Emma, but then, there's a moment of self-awareness and her expression softens.  

Noriko's eyes flit toward Gabby and she bubbles up into more laughter.  She's already moved on, and the speed at which she hurtles through her emotions at other times demonstrates just how much she holds onto her anger, or how much it holds on to her.  She watches as the pigeon drops down to the ground, stunned by the fall.  It gets up soon enough, has a moment of confusion, and then gets the hell out of there.

To Gabby, "Is that all it takes?  Be a show off and ask to get in?"  It's due to her quicker mental processes mostly that she says, "Shouldn't there be, like, a need to show teamwork or something?"  A billion other things flew threw her mind, but she's too lazy when she's trying to keep herself down to regular speed that she doesn't even try to throw out more.

Noriko pads along behind Emma.  It's an odd thing to watch, like someone schlepping in fast forward.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney claims a booth that looked suitably comfortable and was notably far enough away from the door that she could keep an eye on it, and the window outside. It was a habitual gesture to ensure she could keep an eye out though perhaps not a noticable one. Sitting with her back to the wall she nods to the others as they join her inside the diner along with a grin. "I don't know how it'd be, but it can't be any worse than being in limbo. Though.... Don't poke around too much, okay?" She adds far more seriously. "I've got a lot of bad stuff in my head."

"Well, to be fair, it's going to be the Headmaster's call. But that doesn't mean we can't listen and help point out the right people to talk to," she points out to Noriko with a shrug in return. "Showing teamwork is a big bonus. That's how I've been allowed on missions while Laura ..." she hand wobbles there. "She's working on it but she's used to being a solo item."

With that she grins toward Quentin with a nod. "I'm Gabby. Nice to meet you. I'm okay with trying the mental thing."

Quentin Quire has posed:
Quentin takes a seat at the booth, and the waitress scribbles something on her notepad. "There's pie coming." he says, mysteriously.

Once they're all at the booth, he snaps his fingers, which is enough to pull Noriko and Gabby in. "Nice to meet you too." But he looks to Emma, and forms a pink revolver made out of psionic energy. "You're obviously a powerful telepath, so it's just easier if I go the extra mile. Don't worry, it won't kill you."

He immediately points the gun at her without waiting for a response, and fires directly at Emma's head.

When they all open their eyes, they're in a Manhattan high rise, some swanky billionaire apartment. There's designer furniture, a decked out kitchen area, massive windows that overlook the entire city, and, importantly, the distinct smell of the pecan pie sitting on the obsidian table in the middle of the rather swanky couches.

Most odd, though, is that this all feels incredibly real. The air, the smells, gravity, their sense of touch. There's no distinct difference between how this and the real world feels. "I don't expect the X-Men to simply let me in. But this year I've spent 'dead', I've been gathering information on anti-mutant activities, in between making racist politicians shit their pants."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma looks up, wearing a long white cape off the gloves that cover her hands up to her biceps and then the fabric curls over and connects to her top, which bares her shoulders and much of her midriff. The white queen wears a tight fabric top tailored specifically to her and pants that could be considered body paint how tight they are, but the fact her heels match everything, this is how she thinks of herself. Or allows herself to be thought of in the mental-scapes. Emma reaches out again to the two girls, again, ready to be prepared to rip them out of the freefall of mindscapes with her powerful mental parachutes. "You could have just asked you piece of--" Emma gets cut off as she stands up and starts to step towards Quentin, a chill forming behind her as she walks. The true ice queen.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko's eyes go wide when the weird pink gun comes out of nowhere and bolts.  She gets all the way into the car when she opens her eyes to the apartment.  She blinks at Emma.  The woman certainly beats her to the punch in vitriol for some reason.  "I liked the diner better."  She looks down at her hands, tries to see if she can feel her charge in her body.  She wiggles her fingers to see if she can move fast too.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney fist-pumps a single time along with a quiet, "Yesss," at mention of pie being on the way. Sure the means was questionable--Nothing had been said aloud to that waitress after all, and a lingering glance after her is given. Even in spite of her apparent ease of accepting what was going on she was still aware of what was going on around her.

Then they were in the mindscape. She glances first to Noriko to see if she's okay, before her attention is caught by the raging Emma. Her own attire has shifted in this mindscape not to something sultry, alluring, and feminine but... To dark body armor, weaponry strapped to thigh and back, with a Kabuki-style mask slid to the one side of her hair. None of the crazy t-shirts and hightop sneakers here.

"Emma!" she calls out cautiously as she risks reaching out for the woman's arm. "You're okay, right? I mean it sucked but you're okay? We're okay, too," she adds looking over to Noriko for confirmation. Then back to Quentin.

"I'd rather not be in the middle of a telepath throw down, y'know? Shoot me, stab me, whatever, but mental stuff I'm not so good at."

Quentin Quire has posed:
"Do you know how frustratingly slow those precious few seconds are? Besides, you'll enjoy your pie more if I have deeper fingers in your brain." Quentin, currently wearing a neat red sweater over a black button up with a red tie, basically dressed for the winter holidays, walks over to take a seat at the table.

He leans over, grabbing a fancy knife to begin cutting the pie into sections. There's already crystal plates for each of them.

Noriko will find that she can move and use her powers just fine. The hyper-realism of this world seems to extend to them in every way. Emma herself, as a telepath, once she's acclimated herself, will be able to see that there's a bit more going on here than a simple mindscape. It //is// a mindscape, but he seems to open enough of his mind to her that she can tell that he's actively simulating the people walking by in the streets below them. The cars, the squirrels, weather physics... he's //thinking// about it all, consciously, like some kind of human super computer. "We're not fighting, I don't really do long drawn out fights."

But, as for why they're there, he holds a hand up and holographic files start to appear all around them. Names, places, photos, reports. "I've collected massive amounts of information, but a lot of it are things I couldn't act on myself, even if I tried with many of them. So, I decided, I can't beat anti-mutant activities on my own, and some of these files are from overseas. I don't have overseas cash. If I want to do this, I need to become an X-Men. I need..."

He wrinkles his nose, trying to muster up the word. "Help..."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma stops, just before swearing and finds a hand down at her wrist, she turns her head back and follows her gloved arm down to Gabby, and she frowns, A deep breath of ... someone else's air and she stops midbreath. "I'm fine." She says, her balled fist resetting to a more loose calm natural state.

    Emma's eyes go over to try and find Noriko, worried the girl's speed would be too hard for her to follow even here and yet, she's being a bit more surprised by Quentin's abilities. She steps over towards the pie but walks past the table, and the food, that's easy and she knows it contains zero real substance, and as such, she steps up to the window and looks up first, then down. A hand lifts to rest her finger tips against the glass.

    She fights to swallow her tongue and her impressedness, and yet, the white queen must. "We can get you the interview." Emma says with a look past Quentin towards the two girls, who she hopes receives it, "The X-men are not a hit squad, or a mercenary team." She wouldn't really know, but she's pretty sure based on reading some of the minds around and the research she's been doing while living there thus far.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko is...shorter, but curiously still has blue hair.  She's wearing a soot colored mask with no features save for the there being dark painfully cheery looking half moons.  Her skin and the school uniform she wears are dirty in an unkempt sense, and her wrists have marks on them.  She finds a shard of glass in her grip and she immediately lets go.  It falls to the floor and suddenly she's up on her feet.  Then she's holding the shard again, suddenly realizing it doesn't matter if she has her powers.  She has nowhere to run to, but she's breathing rapidly, which may or may not be speed induced.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney smiles at Emma when she apparently calms down which earns a small nod of agreement. Then, even if the pie isn't real... Well. It's tempting. But Noriko seems to be just as ill-at-ease. With Emma calmed she moves over to Noriko to offer a similar calming hand on her shoulder. "Hey, think of it like a dream, right? You can be anything here. Not the dark stuff. Not the past." A glance down at herself not withstanding she clears her throat a little. "Just know it's not real. It's like a danger room thing only it's in your head."

With that, hopefully helping, she nods toward Quentin as well. "Yeah. We're *not* a hit crew. We don't kill people." Though there was something left unspoken there just beneath the surface, a knowledge of something *MORE*... but she wasn't speaking on it. For once, Gabby was hush.

"But we can help. Information is always good and can help us be more than just reactionary." There's a pause and she asks, "Is there real pie too because I really do burn through a lot of calories, for reals."

Quentin Quire has posed:
"I don't expect them to be. But millions of mutants were killed, and if I can't fight to keep more mutants from being killed alone, then I want to do it with people I can maybe trust." Quentin explains, grabbing and biting a piece of the pie. "Don't worry, there's real pie when we go back. But this should taste real to every sense until we return."

Soon, the mindscape vanishes, and they all find themselves back into their bodies normally. There's already a real pecan pie at the table. "Guess we'll have pie, then we'll see what happens next."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma looks over her shoulder at Quentin once more and then to the girls, there's worry on her face. She knows she's not the one to say anything and so Noriko and Gabby will both get the sense that the white queen will defer to them on this instance, as she respect the fact that they are both her senior as far as being members of the school. Emma wants to take another deep breath but again, she realizes that's just something psychosomatic and not important or even real. She wants to speak but the words she knows she should be saying would sound beyond hollow and pale falsities, she has not authority here.