Unpopping: Gertrude Yorkes (Runaways)

[powervacuum]

((Unpopped with modly permission. Gert has no memory of the time she was here previously. Also, spoilers for the "Parental Guidance" arc of Runaways are under the cut tag.))

Comments

[chainedbyred]

Russel nearly ran into the pair as he walked down the hall, his nose in a book. He stopped and looked more interested than surprised at the girl and the dinosaur standing in front of him in the corridor. "...Hi," he said, snapping the book shut in one hand.

[powervacuum]

So there were other people here. "Hi," Gert replied, keeping one hand on Old Lace's back. "Do you have any idea what this place is?"

[chainedbyred]

"Hogwarts, apparently," he replied. Interesting that he was meeting someone new outside of the Sorting room. "A magic school."

[powervacuum]

...what.

"Excuse me? Did you say Hogwarts?"

[bad_date_nate]

Nate walked past the Popcorn Room and then stopped. And looked back. Ok, a teenage girl. That was normal. With a dinosaur. That wasn't.

He continued to rest against the wall as he stared at her quizzically and, more importantly, silently. No need to piss off the giant teeth. But after a bit it grow to be a bit rude, which would piss off the teeth anyway. "Hey," he said carefully, though he remained within bolting distance.

[powervacuum]

Hearing his voice, Gert and Old Lace oriented on Nate. "Hey," Gert replied hesitantly. Old Lace tilted her head. "So, uh, is this really a magic school in Scotland?"

[bad_date_nate]

Nate nodded carefully. "Seems to be." He didn't seem entirely certain himself; really he was just attending to follow his girlfriend. She seemed to believe it. And he had seen an angel. And Yoda.

"You didn't know?"

[powervacuum]

"No." Gert shook her head. "I figured this was... well, someplace else." If she'd been wrong in assuming this was an afterlife, she didn't need to bother anybody else with that.

[bantersucks]

((Placeholder as I am working on like three other tags at once, but couldn't resist. ))"No, a snowball fight is not an excuse to get suited up," Jaime was muttering as he walked down the hallway, coat and boots and hair still damp and snow-flecked. "For one thing, it's cheating

[powervacuum]

Gert twitched from the sudden shock, but quickly recovered. "Oh, uh, hi there."

Old Lace, meanwhile, leaned forward to sniff at the newcomer. She liked meeting new people.

[bantersucks]

"Uh. Hi." Jaime didn't move as Old Lace sniffed him. The scarab anxiously reminded him that there were a lot of teeth in his personal space. He tried to send it reassurance - it could sometimes pick up on what he was feeling. Besides, the girl didn't seem bothered, and if it was hostile, the teeth would have been out already.

Somehow, it seemed to work as the scarab's panicking died down. "Is s-" wait, he didn't want to explain how he could even tell it was a she "- belong to you?"

[powervacuum]

"She doesn't belong to me, really," Gert replied. Satisfied with whatever she'd been sniffing for -- probably just spare food -- Old Lace calmed down and backed up. "We're partners." She wasn't about to advertise the empathic bond unless it was necessary.

[kosmosmagdalene]

KOS-MOS stood at the entrance to the Popcorn room, eying Old Lace. Granted, it did look like a threat, but at this moment, the dinosaur didn't act it.

KOS-MOS got closer, hoping to ascertain whether Old Lace was friend or foe.

[powervacuum]

Clearly, everybody in Hogwarts was insane; Old Lace was a sweetie-pie. Like a kitten, only large and able to maim.

"Hey," said Gert, seeing KOS-MOS in the entrance. "I didn't expect such a huge welcoming party."

[kosmosmagdalene]

"Hello. I am KOS-MOS. I am determining whether this creature is a threat to the students at Hogwarts."

Ah, KOS-MOS, blunt as always.

[powervacuum]

"A threat...?" Gert snickered. "Old Lace? You've got to be kidding me." She patted the dinosaur's head, and Old Lace rubbed against her hand. "Not unless any of them make her become a threat."

[sponge_girl_x]

Rogue just happened to be wandering by, when her brain made a sudden leap of connection. Girl with purple hair. A dinosaur. Maybe that guy in the Sorting Room hadn't been as full of crap as she'd initially thought? "Excuse me. This might sound kinda weird and outta nowhere, but has anyone called your dinosaur a mutant retard lately? Not that I think it's a mutant retard. I bet it's real smart. Hell, I'm a mutant, so it would really just be puttin' myself down, and... See, there was this guy preoccupied with David Blaine, and he said--" She covered her face with her hands (gloved as usual, though it was less conspicuous in the Scotland winter than it would be otherwise) and said, "Just forget I said anything."

[powervacuum]

Gert blinked in confusion. "Wait, huh? Um, no, nobody's-- Old Lace isn't a mutant, she's just genetically engineered," she explained. "You're a mutant? I didn't think there were very many left."

[sponge_girl_x]

Rogue un-hid her face enough to give the girl a quizzical look. "What're you talking about? There's plenty of us. Well, not here at Hogwarts, maybe, but there's a whole lotta us out there."

[powervacuum]

Gert was almost certain something had happened to make most of the mutants die, or lose their powers, or something like that. "Oh. I must've heard wrong, then."