5254/Someone has a Magnetic personality

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Someone has a Magnetic personality
Date of Scene: 19 February 2021
Location: Recreation Room
Synopsis: Roberto and Paige chat with Magneto when Noriko arrives. Magneto and Noriko chat.
Cast of Characters: Roberto da Costa, Paige Guthrie, Erik Lensherr, Noriko Ashida




Roberto da Costa has posed:
It looks like its one of those days where Roberto doesn't have anything else of import going on so he's here in the rec room blowing off steam. He's said it Paige a few times, some wise words about /all work and no play/ or something like that. So following his own advice he's here playing. He's in great shape but it looks like a cheat day as he has a large glass filled with ice and bubbling soda, chips, and various candy laying about.

Seated on the couch he's got a gaming headset and mic on, wireless controller in hand as he yells into the mic, "RIGHT SIDE, RIGHT SIDE, RED WAREHOUSE!!" On the screen he's running with a weapon in hand, Modern Warfare it would seem as he slides and shoots, killing the other team while giving a loud "w00t!".

He's dressed down in a colorful soccer jersey from his favorite Brazilian team, along with shorts and a pair of flipflops. He's in there, guiding his team with commands and giving shout outs on where the enemy is while saying to his squad over the mic, "Flank right Deathby_Food, Trash_Day, flank left, I'll hit down the middle... GO GO!"

Paige Guthrie has posed:
Heading into the Rec Room is Paige, having changed out of her earlier clothes to a pair of swishy workout shorts and a baggy top, along with some new sneakers. She is on her way to the gym, but she caught wind of Roberto's voice inside yelling at a TV. She gives a pause to watch him for a moment, glancing downwards at the sweets and chips, then back towards him.

She gives a low sigh, eyes rolling upwards and to the side. "Ah' really need a girlfriend ta' workout with." She grumbles to herself, then glances over at her Apple Watch to tap it a few times.

"You almost done there? Ah'm gonna run ten miles."

Erik Lensherr has posed:
Erik doesn't have free run of the mansion and is, in fact, being watched on an almost constant basis. His comings and goings are documented, with specific rules that he is not allowed to speak to the children without supervision. Which sounds incredibly bad, but has more to do with his idealogies than anything untowards.

So, when he enters, it's with a great deal of curiosity. Younger students have taken to following him and he's even gone so far as to play games with them.. Stopping in the hallways and turning around sharply in their directions, smile on his face.

He hardly looks like a boogie man.

He also has children and grandchildren (depending on who you ask).

Now, as he comes into the rec room, he's wearing a sweater and looks like a muscular, broad shouldered, white haired Mister Rogers. Carrying a cup of tea by the ring as he makes his way over towards one of the reading chairs with a book under one arm and a pair of reading glasses held with the curve of a finger gently wrapped around the books spine.
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Roberto da Costa has posed:
He's mid operation in game, Roberto is /pwning n00bs/ or however the kids say it these days. That is until he senses a disturbance in the force which means the mixture of seeing movement from the corner of his eye and in the reflection from the TV. Turning he spots Paige and gives that /busted/ look as he pulls the headphones off his head and shifts his gaze from side to side.

"Ten miles?!" Grinning he kills the game and then motions about him, "None of this is mine... It was... Someone else." Its flimsy at best but he's not really trying to lie, more joking a bit about the whole situation. "We're going to the gym? I'll need to change my shoes..." Trailing off he looks to Magneto as he enters, eyes studying him before he gives a welcoming wave.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
"Yes! We're jogging /ten/ miles! Berto', come on. You know ah' got a routine and ah'll. Every day, same time, ten miles." Paige says with exasperation in her voice. "And look at all that! Chips and candy! Do you know how many grams of saturated fat you probably crammed in you? That's like twenty miles of calories to run off! These calories add up! They don't just go away because you're rich and handsome and good at video games. Those calories take /work/. Ah'd get it if it was at least protein, but -- "

Paige pauses in her health obsessed takedown of her 'boyfriend' as the sight of Magneto comes into view. She pauses, her entire body growing tense as her blue eyes widen a bit. Whatever she was about to say, she loses it in the back of her throat. She swallows tightly, then gives Roberto a side-eye as he waves to him, then lets out a slow breath.

It's like her brain just broke and flatlined. She's been training the last few years to face off against someone like this, and now he's here. Dressed up like Mister Rogers, about to take his sneakers off and swap them for loafers and then hang out with Miss Kitty and his fucking trolley or something.

She's actually at a loss for words.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
Erik stops at the small table beside the stuffed arm chair he'd chosen for his reading and sets the book down. His glasses rest beside with his fingers gently spreading across the cover of the book and his gaze cast down just so. The light coming from the top of the shade gives him hard shadows, a glow that radiates in his mane of white hair and beard. Deepening the shadows in the wrinkles around his eyes. He doesn't look old, certainly not nearly 100 years.. not even with those wrinkles.

Something to be said for good genetics?

Something also to be said for a girlfriend chiding her boyfriend.

Having heard her talk of calories, he smiles to himself. Silver-blue eyes turning so that he can take her in, take Roberto in. The latter he knows of. A wealthy mutant family? Of course he knows of him, the latter- "You're a Guthrie." He says politely. "Mr. da Costa." To the welcoming wave, his hand curling just so. "You know-" Spying the television and the game the young man is playing, his head tilt just enough to view it between their shoulders. "I never understood the appeal of video games." Pointing, taking a step towards the back of the couch with a curious perk of his brow. "My son, perhaps, would have been able to introduce me to them, but he and I have not been on speaking terms for some time now."

Roberto da Costa has posed:
The Brazilian takes the chiding with practiced ease, if anything he seems to smiler wider the more into Paige gets. Shaking his head with a laugh he turns and cleans up his mess and then moves to start returning various munchies to their place near the bar for the others to have at when they have the time.

Looking from his girlfriend to Magneto he gives a smile as he moves to her side, his flip flops making soft slapping sounds as he moves. There is a shrug of his shoulders and he says, "Its good fun. Nobody gets hurt for real and you can flex that strategic side of your mind." A look is given around them as he motions to the rest of the room, "Shouldn't there be someone with you right now? Watching you? Making sure you don't have these conversations?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
The doors seeming to shut as if someone open had only an inch or less and let go, well that's the only indication that Noriko has entered the room till a bunch of snacks go missing and the speedster ends up sitting crosslegged in one of the chairs.  In her lap is a mound of calories.

"Who are you?"  The Japanese has the faintest trace of an accent.  She's wearing cargo pants and a raglan tee, orange sleeves.  A chip bag is open and she's already munching down.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
There is a slow blink of Paige's eyes as he pointedly calls out her family tree. She isn't sure if she should be afraid or proud that she would be on 'his' radar. When Roberto makes his way over to her side, she gives a slight shake of her head, reaching up to pull her blonde hair back behind her.

"Yes, ah'm a Guthrie. Paige. Sam's younger sister." There is a hint of pride in her voice as she straighens up, staring at him for a long moment, taking in his details. It's like she's just met her first celebrity, even if he is one of the world's most dangerous ones.

She glances over to Nori as she zips her way in, then looks back towards the master of magnetism. "Berto', don't rile him up any." She mutters to him.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
Of all the people in the mansion, it is without a doubt ironic that Magneto is so keenly comfortable with speedsters. His son, one of his twins, is a speedster and he's learned long ago not to bother trying to follow one with any attempt to track. But she's got metal on her.. a button.. a piercing.. a cellphone.

When she stops in her chair with her mound of calories, he's already looking there before she appears. The intricacies of his connection to the magnetic field is such that, even at her speed, she's just not fast enough to out run his control of the things she carries.

Standing with a drab brown wool sweater, slacks, and a checkered white shirt with loafers, his mane of long silver hair and full, but groomed, beard are the only thing that keeps him from perfectly resembling Mister Rogers. Rather than answer her question, he looks to Paige and Roberto, to whom he had been conversing prior to Noriko's arrival.

"The intricacies of my supervision were pretty clear that I could not be in private... which I am not. Nor am I attempting to subvert either of you with my rhetoric-" curling his fingers in quotes, a small smile creasing his lips, "- I am well within the confines of what I agreed upon." He does not, however, look riled.

"/I/." Turning to look at Noriko, "Am Erik Lansherr. Though it is most likely that you know me by my more 'popular' moniker. Magneto." His palm rests against the cushion of the couch, "And who are you?"

Roberto da Costa has posed:
"Paige... I don't think there is any riling that can be done to Mr. Rodgers here. He's well in his place." A teasing wink is given to Magneto as Roberto gives Noriko a wave of greeting. "I'm gonna go change, if you're good here? Remember, no one is to be alone with weird Uncle Erik." Cutting a look to the older mutant he slips out of the room with a light hug given to Paige.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
It's the zipper actually.  Otherwise, Noriko's surprisingly metal free.  Definitely a coincidence.  It is very easy for Noriko to notice the strangely out of place man looking where she ends up.  She sees it happen in such vivid detail.  "Weird.  You detect some kind of currents or something?" she asks so cavalierly.

"Well if you have bannable ideas but you're allowed to be here then you must have interesting ideas," Noriko concludes between a few bags.  "Magneto.  I think I've read about you."  The girl snags the last chip with her metal gauntlets, squishing down the walls of the bag, but pulls the prize out of the crinkled cave with ease.  "Noriko Ashida."  Crunch.

At Roberto's mention of being alone with weird Ungle Erik, Noriko smirks.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
There is a visible scowl upon Paige's face as Roberto continues to taunt Magneto. He may make light of this, but she is taking it very seriously. Her entire life she has read about how dangerous he is. How much of a threat he can be. Just a thought can tend this mansion upside down and torn apart. "Stoppit." She hisses at him under her breath, giving him a bit of a shove as he leans in for the hug.

One should always respect their adversary. Give them space, like a nest full of riled up hornets. Be prepared to run for your life when the stingers come out.

"Go change." She says to Roberto. "So we can do those ten miles." She isn't as intense as she was earlier. It's as if the air got sucked right out of her. She gives a look towards Noriko, straightening up a bit more and studying her.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
There are few people who would so brave as to tease Magneto, fewer still who would do so to his face. To his credit, the wisened Mr. Rogers weathers it with not but a sardonic grin and a tilt head nod to Roberto. "I wouldn't dream of breaking the rules of the mansion, Mr. da Costa." Hand remains on the back of the couch, "But you would do me a great favor if you pretended, if only for a moment, to have manners." He's not rude about it, but there's a definitive line to his politeness.

Weird Uncle Erik was almost across it.

Almost.

To Noriko, with his head inclined slightly, he nods. "Something like that, yes." Detect currents. He doesn't feel obliged to demonstrate, suffice that he accepts her simplistic take on how he was able to track her with little apprehension. "Depends on who you ask, Ms. Ashida. I cannot dispute that my differing ideas have garnered me no small amount of contempt by some of your contemporaries, but I have a unique experience, even amongst Mutants, that has painted my opinion."

Paige again draws Erik's attention. Head canting just so, "Ten miles. You intent on running the childishness out of him or just the calories?"

Paige Guthrie has posed:
Watching him leave, Paige lets out a soft grunt under her breath. When Erik speaks to her, she stiffens once more, feeling goosebumps race along her arms. "Both." She says in a raspy tone in her voice as she tries to give off some type of confident air about her. "He needs it. I'm only dumbing it down to ten for him. Otherwise I'd do fifteen."

She doesn't jump in on the topic of his rhetoric. She figures that is a safe topic to stay away from in conversation. She gives a slight glance to Noriko, doing one of those subtle headshakes: 'Do not engage!' Danger Will Robinson.

"So .. ah'm curious as to .. th' visit .."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
If Noriko notices or looks Paige's way, it isn't slow enough to register, though the slight little hitch in her eye position is when paying attention.  But that's before the full on studying.  So she doesn't seem to notice Paige studying her.

But before Paige ever gets to warning Noriko, the speedster is already engaging.  "Sounds interesting.  Unique experiences.  I feel like my experiences are probably just a rehash of a few types you find around here.  So do people usually end up adopting your ideas after you tell them your story?  Is that how it goes?"  She sounds genuine, now onto the cookies.

That's when Nori spots Paige's warning.  The speedster's eyebrows are suddenly arched.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
To say Erik is no stranger to such scrutiny is an understatement. The fact that a young mutant has read about him while he's still alive speaks volumes to what he's been able to accomplish in his long lifetime. That scrutiny, however, still amuses him. Perhaps something to do with his egotism? Though it's hard to tell, ultimately.

He nods to Paige, "He could certainly use a bit of rehersal in manners. Thankfully, he was speaking in jest, else I may have taken offense." There's no threat. But does there need to be?

There is, of course, curiosity. As much from Magneto as directed towards him. "In a manner of speaking, yes." Nodding is such a manner that his eyes never leave the speedster. Hands together in front of him, it's hard not to see that, despite his clothing suggesting he's just a wisened old man, he's anything but. "I find that everyone has a unique perspective, Ms. Ashida. No matter how much we might trivalize our individual experiences, they are deeply personal to who we are. It shapes us and our opinions of the world.. and I've never met a mutant that I did not share, at some level, a commonality. We all suffer equally in this world, do we not?"

Glancing out at the snow, "But I've promised Charles that I shall not engage in such conversations with his students without staff present. I think he pays me far too much credit, personally..." Grinning playfully, at least in a mock playful way, "That or pays his students too little."

Paige Guthrie has posed:
Opening her mouth, then closing it just as quick, Paige has to shove all of her thoughts on the subject matter down into her stomach. Her nostrils give a slight flare, then lets out a soft breath. "Ah' should get going if ah'm gonna put Berto' through th' wringer proper."

She gives another long look at the older man. He may be dressed like the perfect 'Dad', but all she can see is who he really is. The helmet, the cape, the red uniform, the news articles, the holovids. The symbolism.

Perhaps what terrifies her the most is how much she can actually align with him on some topics. Though it's her loyalty to this school which keeps her from crossing a line. There is a moment of hesitation, then she is heading out the door a bit quickly, keeping her head and eyes ducked.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Some do suffer more than others, but everyone suffers equally to a certain extent," Noriko answers what is likely meant to be rhetorical without hesitation.  "And I certainly have my opinions about the world."

"Well, it's kind of a dumb rule.  If someone wants to talk with you they're going to talk with you.  Maybe not here, but somewhere."  Noriko shrugs and then her lap is tidied up, her drinking a soda.  "Maybe both.  Because we're so young and impressionable and can't come to our own beliefs."  Noriko doesn't seem to pay any mind to the comings, goings, or anyone who might be peering in on her conversation with Erik.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
They are being watched.

At least Erik is.

Though those watching him are careful not to be obvious about it. A young staff member, or an assistant to one, is always around pretending to be doing something else. Some don't seem as inclined to pretend, however. Some out right stare and make it known they're keeping their eyes on him.

Neither of those two seem to bother him in the slightest.

"You've the truth of it, Ms. Ashida." Nodding, his fingers drum the cushions of the couch and then push him back towards his over stuffed chair and the book he'd left sitting beside the lamp. "So, tell me about yourself. What are your opinions of the world?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko pretty much thinks of this place as being watched by one if not more Eyes of Sauron.  The eyes on Erik do not seem to bother her either, information courtesy of being curious as to how people around her were reacting to him and what kind of surveillance might be at work.

The speedster's head tilts to the side.  "There are good people and there are bad people.  There are people who hate and people who love.  There are bad people who love, and good people who hate."

"My father made a cage out of my bedroom but that's not even as confined as I ended up, and a few days or so ago, some mutant hating bastard was holding a gun to the back of my head.  My girlfriend accidentally roasted his ugly face."

"So what do I think of the world?  I think the world is full of assholes."  Noriko says with a nod.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
"The world is dominated by assholes." Erik corrects, tapping a finger gently against the cover of the book he'd left laying on the table when he'd moved to speak to Roberto and Paige. "Run by them, point of fact-" Glancing up as he says this last bit, "-To one extent or another. Like Senator Kelly... Curtis Moore." He'd caught up on the news since returning to earth, though the former he was already well aware of.

His gaze looks back up to stare out the window at the new round of flurry that falls cross the glass. "A cage of your room. I've seen quite enough of cages for one lifetime. Some more obvious than others.." Motioning to Noriko, "Guilt is a cage. Blind faith, another. A person isn't truly free until they're able to make an opinion of their own regarding the situations they exist in... and few are willing to make an opinion until they've faced hardships."

As to her girlfriend, "So I find it very unsettling that someone might feel guilt for defending a loved one who had a gun to their head... for no other reason than they were born different-" the way he says different, it could almost be better, "- than them. Amusing really. If I have a gun and shoot a man for that action, I'd be excused my behavior before the law." Fluttering his fingers, "But if I do so with powers granted by evolutions guiding hand, I'm labeled a monster."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Well that's what happens when there are cockroaches everywhere.  They end up running things."  Noriko, of course, is probably thinking of the nice kind souls she has met at these riots connected to Senator Kelly's supporters.

"Wait.  Few are willing," to make an opinion.  "Have you seen Twitter?"  Noriko smirks, and obvious faux counterpoint.  "But agreed.  If I had inherited my father's beliefs I'd be doing something very different right now."

"I didn't say anything about guilt," Noriko points out with a slight smirk that only broadens as Erik lays out his example.  "I think bodies are tools in the sense that I own this body.  It has certain capabilities.  Some people's bodies are as dangerous as an inanimate butter knife.  They are waiting for circumstance and chance to be dangerous for that one inopportune or opportune moment.  Some are AK47s...Some are nukes.  People don't like a nuke in the hand of a single citizen."

"So even beyond the normal racist bullshit we have to put up with, there will always be that.  But I don't think we'll ever get beyond it, and is there protection under the law?  Are any mutant politicians going to come out of hiding and start a long fight for mutant rights?  How many more kids have to be attacked between now and then?  That beautiful then which obviously doesn't exist."  Without action, but the super quick tirade comes to an end.

"So yeah I guess I've got some opinions," Noriko says as if conceding how deep those opinions might go.

"And you're right.  There would be no way for you to get a jury of your peers."

Erik Lensherr has posed:
"No, I have never seen twitter." Erik admits, having had little use for it. He's a man of actions out in front of the crowd, rather than actions led by dictation behind the screen. Perhaps it's a shortcoming, certainly something worthy of thought given what Noriko has said. "A nuclear bomb in the hands of an individual.. compared to what? if your body is the nuclear weapon, if it is your genetics that are the fuse, should you not have agency of those things simply because others view your possession as dangerous? Does the inherent deadliness of you a mutation absolve you of free will?"

He shakes his head, flicking a wrist at such trivial counter points. Ones made to him so often in his life that he can nearly predict that it will eventually come to that argument. Not that Noriko is predictable. If anything, she's surprised him... a girl of her age rarely has as much opinion, even fewer the ability to back it up with points.

"Such is the die we were cast..." A glance at his own jailers. Though he's chosen to allow them the keys, as he's free to leave whenever he wish. Not that anyone could stop him from going if he desired to. "Not your guilt, Ms. Ashida." The book he'd laid aside is taken up, along with the reading glasses sitting near to it.

"It's been a pleasure, Ms. Ashida. Perhaps we could continue this conversation another time, but I believe the young man over there is starting to get a little antsy with the course our discourse is taking."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Don't bother.  It's full of people who haven't faced hardships and have too many opinions."  Noriko just shakes her head, annoyed by even the thought of the service, even if some of her friends are hooked on it.  "/I/ believe that if this were a true democracy, our powers would be considered no more evil or good than the one who possesses the power to choose.  I hold a gun but that doesn't make me a murderer, even if I'm unqualified to use it.  And the reason why our powers would be considered that way is because democracies are based on liberties that don't infringe upon others' liberties.  So as far as I see it, they're threatening my rights to bear arms," Noriko says with a broad, toothy grin which disappears in a beat.

Yes Noriko riffed that bit about bearing arms on the spot, even while keeping herself slow to 'keep up' with those living at typical speed.

But with a sudden somberness, Nori says, "They're threatening my free will to live and not be shot like a dog in the street.  So I agree. - I didn't say anything about anyone's guilt."  Nori reminds him, the strong personality clearly unafraid to take her stance to the grave.

"Yeah he would.  I'll split.  I've got stuff to do anyways.  See you around."  And Noriko is gone, her departure probably micro-heralded to Erik easily.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
"You didn't have to say anything about guilt." Erik says to nobody, since Noriko has already gone. A fact that he's keenly aware of, even before he's said it. The vibration of her metalic gauntlets shifting through the air felt to his command of the magnetic field as keenly as a fly caught in a spiders web. He picks up his book, then, and glances towards his constant observer.
A lengthy observation of him.

Then he turns and settles into the overstuffed chair, bringing a leg up to cross over the other. The glasses are unfold and set upon the bridge of his nose. Head cant back just so, he looks down upon the spine of his book with his face pulled taut. A kindly old man, indeed.

The book is opened upon the silk ribben marking his page. Content to bore his observer with a quiet night of reading. For all his bluster about how childish Roberto is, there exists in him, a petty nature.