Welcome to Spokane! - closed - For Martini, Ophelia, Rogue and Ric

[movetheearth]

Getting permission for the four of them to go to Spokane had been pretty easy considering that Ric could just ask Emma outright and getting there had been a quicker event thanks to a poker game in his favour and the debt being called in as a lift into town for them all. Wandering down West Main Avenue away from the Cyrus O'Leary's Restaurant (they'

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[movetheearth]

It would probably been the right time for Ric to admit defeat and hand over the tourist map to Rogue but he's stubborn and determined to at least keep up the charade that he's leading their little troop through Spokane. Though in reality Ric is just doing as he is told, used to being hauled along by his other half so it's pretty easy for him to catch his footing and keep up with Martini. Managing to shift Mark's grip from his arm to his hand Ric just grins at the suggestion, leaning over to bite at Mark's earlobe before bounding along, as equally enthused by the idea and promise of fun later.

"Sure, ice cream after I whoop all your asses at mini golf!" There isn't much of a queue thankfully and Ric quickly collects them four golf clubs along with four different coloured golf balls; Ric nabs the neon orange one for himself.

Waiting at the first hole Ric is clearly trying to work out the best strategy to get the ball around the rock obstacle and into the hole. He, of course, has to take the first shot and fidgets and wriggles making sure he is all lined up before tapping the golf ball and cursing it as it bounces off of the rock and rolls to a stop. It takes him a further two shots to finally sink the ball. "I'm taking it easy on you all of course, leading you into a false sense of security."

[marauding_miss]

Between Ric being affectionate, Mark barely understanding the concept of personal space and Ophelia not even pretending to understand it, Rogue had gotten used to their constant touching her that day. Ophelia's hand in hers wasn't a big deal, they both had gloves -although Phe's were just a little prettier, and really, Rogue was starting to not mind at all.

"Darlin'," watching Ric take his shot, Rogue dropped her little green ball to the ground, sighing slightly, "we'll be luck if Ah leave us a course t' play on." She didn't have the best of luck with games at all. Her strength getting away from her sometimes.

Taking a far more direct approach, Rogue just hit the ball with the club and tried not to take out any passers by. She gets it around the obstacles, into the hole in four shots and just shrugs. "Ah'll make it up later."

She's not overly fussed with winning, just that she's enjoying herself.

[time_schizo]

"Hmmmm." Martini studied the problem of how to get the ball into the hole with all the seriousness of Michelangelo studying the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel before painting it. He set the ball down and walked around it, looking at it from every angle. His face creased in thought and then as a lightbulb came on inside his brain, his face lit up in delight.

Flipping the golf club around, Martini knelt down and lined up the club's end with the ball. Shooting it like it was a pool cue, the bright purple golf ball astoundingly obliged and scored a hole in one. He twirled the club around with a pompous little smirk. "And that, boys and girls, is how you do it. Booyah"

[mad_asahatter]

Unlike the others, Ophelia wasn't exactly sure what the hell she was meant to do with the club and her fluorescent pink ball. In fact, following Ric and Rogue, she had a small idea, but Martini blew that out of the water with his method.

Instead, Phe dropped her ball to the spot and simply kicked it around the layout. The fact that she had to kick it nine times to get it in the hole and then return to the start to get her club didn't seem odd to her at all.

"All done. Next one?" It didn't phase her at all, the grin never leaving her face at all.

[movetheearth]

Ric had been tempted to point out to Phe as she kicked the golf ball that technically she was cheating and missing the point of the game. But the fact that she had been enjoying herself and Martini was hardly playing by the rules... well he just let it slide.

Obviously this didn't sit well with the group of young guys behind them who were already getting restless at being made to wait their turn. Ric had mostly managed to ignore them and their comments but it was pretty obvious he was starting to get agitated.

At the second hole it took Ric two shots to pot his golf ball and of course he hardly did it subtly, dancing around the hole and crowing in victory.

[marauding_miss]

The noise from the group behind them set Rogue's teeth on edge. She disliked the general population of the Earth on a bad day, and this was a good day, so she tried to ignore it, grinning with Phe as she declared her shot a win.

With Mark and Phe, it wasn't like things would be normal, so Rogue hardly minded letting them do things their way. It kept them happy, it kept everything fairly light. So Rogue just went ahead and copied Ric and potted her ball on the next hole, making her two shots as well and getting a high five from Phe in congratulations.

Stepping out of the way, Rogue kept herself close between Ric and the other two, standing halfway down the hole, waiting for Mark and Phe.

[time_schizo]

Martini tried using his golf club the right way up on the next shot. It went wild as it shot up into the air, pinging off of everything in sight before ending up farther away from the hole then when he head begun. Taking his sweet time trying to get the ball back toward the hole, he failed to notice the agitation of the group which had once again become stuck behind them.

The tallest and burliest of them spoke up, directing the question towards Ric, whom he assumed was the leader (or at least the sanest) of the foursome. "Hey, pal. Think you can hurry it up a little?" The annoyance was clearly heard in his voice and seen by the scowl on his face.

[mad_asahatter]

At the tone, and then the wave of frustration and annoyance and mild disgust, Phe turned to stare. The whole group seemed to mirror each other, down to their outfits, just carbon copies of each other with no personality. Phe didn't get it. They looked the same, felt the same, acted the same. Like little sheep.

"Bo Peep's lost her sheep, does she know where to find you? If you hang a left and walk straight on, that's the nearest zoo. It's not too hard, best to try. At least that way, Bo Peep won't cry."

Times like these, Phe's sanity would be sorely needed. But club in hand and ball under her shoe, she's not entirely sure if she has offended or not. They are, after all, simply playing a game like everyone else. Why would these little sheep be so harsh?

[movetheearth]

Phe managed to respond before Ric could open his mouth and it was enough to make him smirk and remember that most people tended to back off after Phe started to speak in rhyme. But this guy? Oh no. Apparently he was he type who wanted to pick a fight and Phe's remarks only fuelled his ranting.

"What are you two like their carers or something? Take 'em back to the looney bin and leave 'em there to rot." The snide comment is enough to earn the guy some sniggers from his friends but it pisses Ric off. He finally turns to face them and gives the group a scatching look, drawing himself to his full height.

"Ay macetón, Why don't you and your friends back the hell off!" Fist clenched around the golf club Ric doesn't think twice about squaring up to the asshole.

[marauding_miss]

The raised voices and the bunching together of the group made Rogue frown, the fact that Rictor fired back a few insults only made her worry more. At the best of times, Phe didn't make much sense, but with those who weren't even aware of her, she made even less.

The comment about the 'looney bin' rubbed Rogue the wrong way, her fist clenching at her side as she watched between Ric and the supposed ring leader of the group.

"This is gonna end bad," mostly talking to herself, she makes the conscious decision to stick close to Ric as well, just in case they have another Japan incident.

[time_schizo]

"Can't we all just get along?" Judging by the unfriendly faces he now found himself surrounded by, Mark guess the answer to that question was a resounding and definite no with a capital N. Martini steered himself towards Ophelia, instinctively sticking close just in case the rapidly rising situation turned ugly.

He didn't know how this was going to turn out. There was too many decisions being made to get a clear lock on anything. That made Mark nervous.

"What did you call me, you little shit?" The big gorilla who had been the first to speak up stepped forward, a darkening scowl on his brow. Now he was itching to get into it with Ric. All it would take was the right word to set him off.

[mad_asahatter]

Wow. Phe was overloading. There was swirling hate, repressed anger bubbling to the forefront and Phe just couldn't help it. She nudged it, actually nudged it.

She could feel Mark close to her, sense Rogue's wariness and Ric's rising anger. Everything just happened around her in a slightly muted tone; the voices, the words, they were drowned out with the emotions heavy in the air.

It was a fact, mostly, that Ophelia worked very differently to the average empath. She discovered this the hard way. What Ophelia did was copy and mimic, all those nasty little feelings filtering through, she didn't take them away, not like she would and could for Rictor or Mark, not, she just copied them, leaving the real things hanging in the atmosphere where they belonged.

Betsy would be so proud, but maybe if she'd just drained everything, it would've been so much better. What Phe didn't mean to do was duplicate and release, setting the burly, hate filled group off even more. "Opps." Without thinking, her hand flailed out to grab Mark while she flinched from her mistake.

[movetheearth]

Ric doesn't register the opps from Phe because he's too busy trying to square off to the asshole who didn't get the hint the first time. It's like someone has flicked a switch in his head that is telling him to just go for it and fight with the group, even though he's outnumbered. The warning system in his head should be screaming at Ric that this feels wrong, that he's no longer in control and edging towards the same precipice that had tipped him over the edge in Japan.

What happens next goes by in almost a blink of an eye. Without Ric realizing Rogue has managed to get herself positioned between him and that fucking asshole. Something is said, quite who or what escapes Ric but it's enough to make the guy grab at Rogue. His fingers curl into the material of her jacket and as he tries to yank her backwards it only serves to pull the sleeve up and expose skin.

The sight of the guy grabbing at Rogue is enough to make Ric want to lash out, so he does but it isn't the asshole he manages to make contact with. In the midst of the jostling his hand curls around Rogue's bare arm and bare skin meets bare skin.

For a moment nothing seems to happen and then Ric's eyes widen and the veins along the back of his hands rise and thicken as his powers and memories are absorbed, racing up his arm until his eyes roll back in his head. Breathing shallow and rapid and skin ghostly pale, Ric finally drops to the ground unconscious with a thud.

[marauding_miss]

She's stuck to the spot for a minute, and then everything is a blur; she doesn't know how she gets between Ric and Asshole Number One, she doesn't know when the asshole grabs her or even when Ric retaliates. Everything zones in on that one second, that one bare second when Ric's skin touches hers and Rogue is frozen in place, shocked and scared and worried.

The flow of power starts as a tingle, then a burn, then she's gasping for air as Ric drops to the ground, unconscious, while she's trying to push through the new personality there, this new barrage of memories, keep her cool and focus on the situation.

All around then, the ground shakes, parts of the mini golf course cracking and falling and the whole of the area evacuating as the tremors spread out. She needs to pull it back, focus on Carol's power and push Rictor's to the side. She knows how because Ric knows how, she just has to pull it back.

"Fucking mutie freak," the snarled words from the guy still holding her sleeve are what she needs and in a second Carol's powers are all she's pushing when she punches the guy out cold.

Then she remembers Ric, turning towards his sprawled out body but hesitant to get close. There's all this nonsense running in her head, and all she can focus on is how Rictor never believed she'd hurt him.

[time_schizo]

Things happen so fast. Later on, Mark will relive it again in his mind, slowing it down until he understands just what happened, but for now, all he can feel is first horror as Ric collapses to the ground and then terror as the shaking begins to start.

He doesn't even realize how hard he's holding onto Phe as the ground rumbles and cracks. All he can picture in his head is another situation like the one in Japan. That had turned out badly in more ways than one. He just shuts his eyes and hopes it'll all go away. By the time he opens them back up, the others of the group have fled seeing their leader taken out cold by Rogue in one punch.

Then Martini is already by Ric's side, kneeling on the ground as he cradles his head gently in his lap. His thoughts lay in his head in a jumbled panic. This was how it was supposed to have gone, dammit! He looks so still, lying there like he's dead. Rogue couldn't-- she couldn't have absorbed like she did with Carol. Could she? "Please. please wake up."

[mad_asahatter]

For the whole length of time that things went crazy, Ophelia blinked, and held her eyes shut. She didn't care that she only heard what happened, she didn't care when Mark's grip on her hand got painful, she didn't rightly mind either when he let go of her hand like he'd never been there either.

What brought Ophelia out of it was when she felt a sudden calm settle, an unnatural calm, and then she realised she was doing it herself. When she noticed that she felt Rictor twice -once in a mild sort of half-asleep way, and the other in an abnormal, cloned sort of way, Ophelia cracked open her eyes to see what had gone on.

With Mark on the ground and Ric cradled on his lap, and Rogue just standing there but feeling oh-so-very different from usual, Ophelia had no clue what to do. So she did the only thing she could possibly think on. She absorbed every emotion around her and sent out a long, steady, slow wave of pure calm and prayed to whatever spirit she was left believing in that someone could do something that helped.