The Rally!

[righteousapollo]

Characters: Enjolras and everyone who wanted to go!
Location:  somewhere in New York City
Time: Saturday morning
Content: Politics and stoof.
Warnings: None as of yet, BUT WHO KNOWS what will happen. This is party style people, so go with whatever you feel like doing - running around, running away, shouting at policemen, getting lost, getting

Comments

Arrival! // laying down some ground rules (open to all)

[righteousapollo]

To the untrained eye Enjolras seemed to be his usual calm and collected self - but to anyone who really knew him it was evident that he was terribly excited. For one, Enjolras wasn’t his characteristically sever self, but smiling instead. It wasn’t a grin, per se, but it was a definite twitching of the mouth that gave away the fact that he was happy beyond belief.

Sure, teaching was interesting and it was good to be able to reach out to the younger generations - although some of the kids could do with a wake-up call - but this, this, was what he was really cut out for

[saintedsinner]

Illness or no, Ed was going to watch this shing-ding. The main reason coming here was so that he could be entertained and enjoy a nice rest on the bus. After all, nothing seemed so relaxing as being lulled by the motor and the wheels of some transport vehicle. When Ed woke from his doze, he stretched and yawned, still feeling fuzzy from all the medication he was on. Of course, the loud tones of the teacher woke him more and he blinked over to Enolras in a manner that looked like Ed was irritated that his rest was disturbed. Which, he was.

All that Ed really got out of that was stay in pairs, keep behind the police lines and there would be food. Food? Ed was up for some food. He made his way out of the bus, probably being one of the last students to go, and stared at all of the tall buildings like any good country boy.

"Yeah," he muttered to himself. "Tossing a bunch of mutants out here to stage a protest is an excellent idea."

[thefuzzydude]

Kurt waited until Enjolras was finished and hopped off the bus. He hung back though, not wanting to wander too far from the vehicle yet for one because he hadn't grabbed a buddy yet but also because he was beginning to sort of second guess his decision to come on this trip. He'd come because it had seemed like the right thing to do. But he wasn't really very comfortable; even with his image inducer he was nervous about being exposed to so many people as being a mutant.

"Well, they must think it'll work, right?" He replied to Ed's comment, even though he knew he wasn't being addressed, "I mean, otherwise they wouldn't go to all this trouble."

[hollow_metal]

Being from one of the less tolerant parts of the country, Alphonse was a bit nervous about the whole 'protest' and 'rally' idea himself. He and Ed were supposed to be keeping a low profile, learning what was going on at the school and hopefully not get brainwashed in the process.

Being there to witness the goings on he was willing to do, but he was hesitant to take part in it. Besides, he didn't have his armor with him if something went wrong. So he was praying that everything was going to stay as civil as possible for what it was worth.

"I think it's more of a hope that it's going to work. That's all any of us has right now. People don't change their minds that easily."

[saintedsinner]

"Or they're going through this trouble just because someone waved their wanger out and said that it was bigger," Ed replied to Kurt with a snort. Even though he would rather be on that bus, snoozing away his 'medicine head,' he was quietly alert, keeping an eye out over the students and the staff members.

Ed was also hoping that things weren't going to go south quickly. "Even in New York, I don't think people would be opening their arms wide to welcome us in. This whole thing screams trouble." He stayed close to Al, looking over to Kurt, not remembering if he knew the student. "Sorry, I've been sick lately. Name's Ed." He extended his right hand this time, the fingers carefully gloved like the left.

[thefuzzydude]

"Err...right." Kurt replied hesistantly, not getting Ed's figure of speech but also not really inclined to ask for clarification. "But, just the fact that they'll allow us to do this here seems like a pretty big deal, to me at least. And there's police, so nothing too bad should happen?" Ed's attitude toward the protest definitely wasn't helping to reassure Kurt at all, and so the last statement came out as more of a question.

"I'm Kurt." He offered a wave instead of taking Ed's hand. Kurt had no problem revealing his natural appearance to the other students, but he didn't think that an unexpectedly fuzzy handshake would be the most pleasant way to find out about it.

[hollow_metal]

"We're still citizens that have rights, so they have to under law whether they want to or not. But there are people here who want to take our rights away."

Alphonse eyed the growing crowed with some trepidation as introductions were being made. He can't remember a time when he'd been in a place with so many people, let alone angry and frustrated people. Hell, a classroom full of people was a lot for them.

[saintedsinner]

Not once did Ed think that Kurt wasn't shaking his hand in order to prevent startling him. He blinked once, then stuffed his hand in his pocket, keeping a cool air about him. Ed was used to people not really treating him as a person because of his automail, so he assumed that this was another one of these 'incidences.' He looked at Kurt coolly, already putting up emotional barriers in retaliation to the slight that was most likely a simple misunderstanding.

"This is my little brother, Alphonse." He nudged Al's shoulder with his own, shifting closer to provide comfort. "It's our first time out in the Big City, actually."

[thefuzzydude]

Of course, Kurt hadn't known about Ed's automail either, and so he hadn't known there'd been a chance of offending the boy in declining his handshake. He didn't notice the bit of a change to Ed's demeanor, but he wasn't sure what he might have done to cause it and so he just brushed it off. The whole rally was a pretty tense situation after all, and he figured that alone was probably putting people on edge.

He certainly wasn't being his typical cheerful self, and he felt bad about it. Making an effort to cheer up, he grinned, "It's nice to meet both of you. This is my first time to the city, too, actually!"

[hollow_metal]

Edward and Alphonse were your typical country boys, running barefoot through fields and farmland as young children. So being faced with a bustling metropolis was just a bit of a culture shock, especially for Al, who spent a good many years hiding away from people.

Al unconsciously leaned his shoulder back against his brothers, so busy being overwhelmed that he nearly missed his own introduction. "Ah! Nice to meet you too, Kurt!"

[saintedsinner]

Ed nodded, glancing at Alphonse for a moment. Above all else, he was here to protect his brother. "You might want to stick with us, Kurt, unless you have other people to be near. If you want, that is." He one shoulder shrugged the offer, trying to act as if it were nothing. "This has the potential to get ugly pretty quick. I think the only saving factor we might have here is if we can diffuse any situation without using our powers."

It was a sound idea. The public would be shown that even mutants can settle disputes without using the 'advantage.' However, that would only be useful as long as everyone did so, or that bullets weren't going to become a part of the equation. "As long as it stays peaceful, we shouldn't have to worry about it."

[total_pessimist]

"But what are the odds of that?" Ulquiorra remarked. He was slightly late to come off the bus, but he'd shown up simply to see how it would all happen. He doubted the rally would have any real long-term benefits. In spite of his pessimism, Ulquiorra believed that those who did nothing to contribute to change, and who passively let themselves be controlled, voided their right to complain about their circumstances.

Besides that, he could take a bullet and live through it. His healing factor was too fast for ordinary methods of killing a person to be effective on him. It wasn't something he'd do out of love and self-sacrifice. It was nothing more than gratitude to the Xavier Institute faculty for giving him somewhere to stay and be educated.

[notbucky]

"It's just a protest," said Eli, turning around to give them a look. He didn't really get why everyone was so worried. He'd been to a million of these, and nothing had ever happened before. A couple of dumbass Republicans weren't gonna change anything. "Not that big a deal."

[saintedsinner]

"Whenever there's a large group of people with heated opinions, there's always the potential for a problem to occur," Ed responded automatically. Even though he had never been in the military, some of that mentality started to show through. His companions back home had been ex-military, and their lessons imparted upon Ed. "One would be an idiot to not be aware of that possibility, regardless of how small that chance could be."

[hollow_metal]

"I can never hurt to be careful!" Alphonse chimed in from his brother's side. It was good to hear that Ed was still trying to hold to the details of their 'mission' as it were, rather then indignantly boasting some sort of retaliation like he normally would.

Al was always the calmer, more careful of the two. The last thing he wanted was to try and pull damage control in the middle of a riot. Especially without his armor.

[thefuzzydude]

Kurt just sort of hung back as the conversation continued on, and got a bit more heated, new people joining in on what was quickly becoming more of a debate. He wasn't one for the big conversations, more of the light-hearted, joking around type, but this was very obviously not the time for joking and he was very aware of it. He just didn't have much else to add--and his regret at having decided to come to the protest was steadily increasing. He was happy to have Eli join in, glad to see that at least one person didn't expect anything bad to happen today and a smile spread across his face again. But then Ed sort of promptly shut that down. Kurt didn't want to think of the possibility of something going wrong here today, or more specifically, the possibility of getting shot at; once was more than enough for one lifetime as far as he was concerned.