822/Moving Forward

Moving Forward
Date of Scene:	28 March 2020
Location:	Breakstone Lake
Synopsis:	A bit of self-induced seclusion gets interrupted by Gabby, and results in a recent-events update from Doug Ramsey to James Proudstar.
Cast of Characters:	James Proudstar, Douglas Ramsey, Gabby Kinney

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James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar has technically been back for a while from his terrible trip back home to Arizona, but he...hasn't really been back. Rarely leaving his room, generally avoiding people. He's been in touch with a few of the teachers and off and on a couple of his friends but he's definitely been withdrawn, even by his normally quiet standards. But he's out today, even if he's removed himself from the mansion a bit.

Out by the shore of Breakstone Lake, James has put himself to work splitting logs, since the weather's getting nicer and folks might need firewood for campfires and such, it seemed like a simple, useful thing to do. For James, it's also an exercise in precision and control. He can split the logs with one stroke pretty much effortlessly. The trick is doing so without basically exploding the log or, driving the long-handled axe all the way into the stump that he's splitting the logs on. So far? Doing OK! At least the moderately-sized mound of split logs seems to attest to that.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Doug buries his problems in constant motion. Therapy. Work. Going from place to place. If you just keep moving, than the Black Dog can't catch you. Just keep moving.

He's jogging around the lake, this morning, and he's on his third lap. Even though the spring sunshine is still thin, he's worked up a sheen of sweat. For the time being, he's been quietly passing by the huge Apache on each lap and not bothering the man.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
A peircing "WAHOOOO!" breaks the otherwise quiet air. The origin of the sound apears a moment later as it approaches the lake rapidly through the air in a ball of yellow and black. There's a mighty splash near the center of the lake when it impacts sending a few ducks flying from shock, and no doubt disturbing any fish that might be in the water as well.

A very drenched Gabby surfaces a moment later splashing to right herself with a laugh that echoes. "SLINGSHOT WORKS!" comes her declaration before she starts to swim toward the shore.

James Proudstar has posed:
James did wave to Doug the first time he passed by, but that's been about the extent of any interaction so far. Jimmy's just been THWACK-ing away at those logs.

But suddenly....!

The delighted yell most certainly attracts James' attention, and he sets the axe down to watch the splashdown, and see who surfaces. Not a face or a voice he immediately recognizes, but he knows there have been new people arriving while he was...out of things.

Still, the exuberance is obvious, and even with everything, James does grin a bit wryly and chuckle, watching Gabby swim towards shore.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Doug had been passing by James again when he heard the sound of exuberance and a body hitting the water.

"What..." He says, looking up and out at the water, before he says, "...Did she just? Breakstone's still *freezing*."

He rubs the back of his neck and he ventures out onto the dock to kneel down and extend a hand to help Gabby up out of the water. That said hand is black, gold and... weird temporarily seems to escape his mind.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney doesn't seem to mind, or if she does, she doesn't notice. Her face is a bit rosey pink as she approaches the docks still grinning ear to ear. Reaching out she takes hold of Doug's hand when offered with a quick, "Thanks! It's kinda slippyer down here," she has to admit. Likely because it's you know, cold as eff and wet. She clambers up onto the dock splashing a good amount of icy water as she does until she finally gets up over it. Man she was tiny.

Releasing his hand she glances at Doug's arm again while reaching back to slick her hair out of her face, and squeeze the water out. "That'll be great come Summer I bet. I wanted to make sure it works though, I mean, if it needs refining then might as well do it before the real fun starts!" Spotting James as well she lifts a hand to wave at him with a grin. "Hi!"

James Proudstar has posed:
"Hey." James replies, moving over to briefly step into the boathouse, coming out with a beach towel that he offers towards Gabby once she's up and out of the water, "You know you probably could've done that when it was a -little- warmer, right?" He shares a bemused look with Doug, though his expression grows a bit quizzical when he notices Doug's arm. He doesn't say anything though, just giving Doug a nod before looking back to Gabby, who...well if she's tiny to Doug, Jimmy might have to worry about accidentally stepping on her.

"You one of the new arrivals, I'm guessing?" He directs towards the pint-sized girl.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
"You look familiar..." Doug says, furrowing his forehead, "Something about you--" He rubs the back of his neck and then looks up. He's 5'9" and a buck fifty, about a third James's size... he has to turn on his heel, rock back a bit on his heels and look up at him.

"A lot of those after what happened in Genosha," He murmurs. "But not all of them are FROM Genosha. The hate attacks are ramping up everywhere."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney is all of 4 and a half feet. Tiny. Even so she doesn't seem the least bit upset, or showing any signs of discomfort, due to being in the cold water. "Yeah, I probably should have, but I was bored," she admits with a careless shrug. Reaching out for the towel she quickly wraps it around herself knowing she likely needed it. "And I am kind of numb so that was probably too cold to do. I'm Gabby," she offers to James with a bright smile that tips toward Doug with amusement. She had old scars on her face and they were far too regular to be from an accident and not intentional. Deep, and old, so for her age... Well.

"That's because I'm a clone of Laura Kinney," she explains matter-of-fact to Doug. "So I'm technically kind of her, but not. And I guess that makes Logan my dad? Kinda?" At that she runs a hand through the side of her hair to squeeze out a bit more water. "I guess that's what we're going with at least. Why is your hand metallic?"

James Proudstar has posed:
Clone...Laura Kinney....Logan's daughter? Er...two sort-of-but-not-really daughters? He had been warned that some of the new guests were complicated to explain, and now he's starting to see why (and yet, doesn't even know the half of it yet). "Nice to meet you, Gabby. I'm James, friends call me Jimmy. This is Doug." He glances back in the direction of the mansion, "Anybody know you're out here?"

He doesn't tack on to Gabby's nonchalant questioning of Doug's appendage, but it's clear enough he's curious what the heck is going on there, too.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
    Doug pauses, and then he turns to look at his arm, like sometimes he forgets about it. "...Oh. I lost my arm in Genosha. This... grew in its place." He flexes his fingers, and then says, "Or Douglas if you feel like being formal--" He looks back up at the house and then says, "Well... we do. I guess that's good enough."

"Yeah, Logan. It's the... eyes." Doug puts his hand on his chin. "It's not really metal, it's an amorphous techno-organic nanocarbon--"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Genosha? Lost arm? Gabby's smile fades to a look of sympathy and without thinking she reaches out to offer Doug a wet hug. Slightly damp. She at least had the towel around herself. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to bring up a bad memory but it's cool you got a new arm at least I think it looks great!" She rambles off before letting him go again. "Good to meet you both!" She adds as she tucks herself further into the towel.

"Er... No, no one knows I'm out here. It's okay, I usually wander around anyway. I'm not enrolled for classes or anything. It's just nice being somewhere other than the city."

James Proudstar has posed:
Jimmy isn't out of questions, given the very specific appearance of that arm, but now doesn't seem like the time and he's not much of a "prying" kinda guy anyhow. So instead he keeps his attention mostly focused on Gabby, "Yeah, it ain't bad out here. Lots of space to get lost in if you need to." He wrinkles his nose, "And the cities kinda stink, anyway." Which for good or for ill is something he is a little more keenly aware of than most...though not likely Gabby, who probably can commiserate.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
    "I don't know. The East River's smell has presence... and character." Doug says. The hug is returned, after a brief pause -- he's somewhat surprised, but only a little. "Well, you have to keep moving forward, I guess. It is pretty cool, isn't it?" Then he straightens up, and says, "It's been a long time, Jimmy."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney nods readily in agreement. Outside was best. Though as she starts to pat herself dry a bit more she tips her head thoughtfully to the side looking between Jimmy and Doug. A little grin crosse her face and she clears her throat. "Well I should get back in. I can't feel pain so it's kind of hard to tell if I"m *too* cold or not, so I better go warm up just in case. Thanks for the towel, Jimmy!" Man it felt weird calling an adult that, but that's what he said! "You too Doug!"

Seems those two needed to catch up as it was. All the more reason for her to slip off before she might get in trouble!

James Proudstar has posed:
"Yeah. Sorry." Jimmy replies to Doug after Gabby rushes off back towards the mansion. "Was trying to work through a lot. Don't know how good a job I did, but I figured I better start tryin' to move...maybe not past it, but around it. Maybe circle back later when there's something I can do about it." The big man shrugs, "So...you doing all right?" He gestures vaguely towards Doug's arm, "Looks like a mutual acquaintance."

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Doug watches Gabby go and then he says, "Uh... huh." He mutters, sotto voce, "Nice girl. A little like being caught up by a very small tornado and dropped on your butt, though."

The he heaves a big sigh and looks back to Jimmy, and says, "I'm still trying to figure that out. I spent years being terrified I might be infected with transmode, and then it saved my life. It seems like the grip's getting tighter all over. This place is an island of safety -- but for how long? We need to get proactive."

James Proudstar has posed:
"Yeah....I could do with a little proactive right about now. Just wish I knew who it was that needed punching." Whether James is consciously or unconsciously cracking his knuckles, they're definitely being cracked. "How's everybody else doing? This Genosha stuff it's...hard to process, you know? It was bad enough with my tribe and that was a few dozen. This..." James shakes his head, frowning at the direction of his thoughts, "I'd say it's a declaration of war, but it kinda feels like it's less war and more just survival now."

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
    "Sometimes that's what war is, I guess." Doug says, "You just dig in and hang on." He rubs his neck, and then says, "That's what bothers me, I get the distinct sensation that something coordinated IS happening but that whoever's behind it is somehow very good at staying invisible-- but at the same time, when there's a real conspiracy afoot, you have to be sure not to make any up. It was--" Doug pauses, "...Bad. I'm dealing with it with a lot of forward momentum and telepathic therapy."

James Proudstar has posed:
"Good at staying invisible and as powerful as all get out." James adds, "And that means they must be patient, too. Most people with that kinda power don't keep a low profile." He shakes his head a bit once more, "I think that's kinda what's been driving me in circles around it. Something like that...it's usually a message. A statement. It's screaming for attention. But this? Dead silence. Which means either someone a whole lot more psycho than I care to think about or maybe they just had second thoughts about the whole taking credit side of things when they saw all those different supers show up to Genosha. Didn't want to paint a target that big on their back." James rubs at his temples, "Or maybe half of it was just to see who responded and how. If nobody cared, wiping out the rest of us woulda been no big deal, right?" Jimmy heaves a sigh, "Drive yourself crazy thinking into knots. Part of me says let the grown-ups handle it but we're not really kids anymore, are we?"

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
    "No, this is annihilation without self-aggrandizement. Naked hate without ego. The Wild Sentinels in Genosha were gestalts made of Sentinels that had welded themselves together. It could be that they had finally reached the point where they're acting independently of a human operator. A machine intelligence working toward a eugenic objective--" Doug doesn't look thrilled at that thought.
    "All the response and outreach in the world doesn't bring back the dead... but they're past caring. We're the ones that're left."

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar says, "Yeah...definitely know -that- song." James replies, tone and expression grim. He has no comment on the idea of sentient sentinels. Dark times, indeed. "All right. That's about enough of that talk, I think. Maybe you should tell me about these new folks slipping in under my nose. I heard something about some of 'em being from the future? Is that for real?"
"

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
    Doug pauses. "Yeah... yeah. A whole bunch of refugees from the future that're related to Jean and Scott. As in... their kids? I guess? They're a little freaked out about it. I guess I would be too. I mean, we did the time travel thing a little bit back in the day -- some futures where it all went wrong... I have Robert the Bruce's autograph. It's not NEW--" Doug shakes his head, "Man... I'm sitting here talking about time travel like it's old hat."

James Proudstar has posed:
Jimmy's eyebrows definitely raise at that, about as close to astonishment as the relatively stoic Apache ever gets, "Ok...yeah, I could see how that might freak somebody out. But hey, at least there's some kinda implication that we -have- a future, even if it maybe is a long way from sunshine and roses."

At Doug's lament over how the once-wondrous may have become mundane, James chuckles, (very) lightly clapping Doug on the shoulder, "We've been around a few of those same blocks. Like I said, not really kids anymore, if we ever were." He looks back towards the mansion, "Clones and time-travellers and techno-organic bionics, oh my."

After a few seconds, he cocks his head towards the direction of the house, "Come on. Let's go see if we can catch up with any of the others. Been cooping myself up too long and talking to you's been a lot better than talking to myself."

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
    Even a light clap on the shoulder makes Doug, who eats his wheaties and works out at least an hour a day, stumble. Then he looks up and says, "...As I recall we used to not get along all THAT great." But, things change. He sighs, and says, "We need to help each other... and get to work on this. Between all of us we have the tools to solve any problem and beat any enemy. If we can just get a start."

James Proudstar has posed:
"Yeah well, I had a lot of anger when I got here. Now I still have a lot of anger, it's just not pointed at you." James replies with a wan smile, "Besides, things change. Like you said, forward momentum." To the rest of Doug's words, Jimmy can only nod, "Well, I guess it's time I go see where I can help."

And with that, the big Apache starts back towards the mansion and re-integrating himself with the folks he's inadvertently held at arm's length these past weeks and months.