Template:Featured Articles/28-2024
 Jono's life had to keep getting weirder. The telepathy was one thing, but experiencing telepathy making it more difficult to hold back the nuclear bomb inside his chest...that was a more pressing issue. And it wasn't exactly like this was a common mutation. Not like he could stroll into the community center and find someone else with this particular powerset. So he trained like he did most things. Alone. He sat crisscrossed on the floor of the danger room, an inferno of red, fiery energy all around him as he tried to think through what Quentin had told him about mutations. How he had to accept it. Easier said than done when an inferno blazed around you. At least it didn't hurt anymore. That was something to cling to. Madin stared into the room through the window in the door and said, quietly, to the man next to them "Sorry bruh. I didn't know the room was busy. I just kinda want to throw stuff in and watch it burn." Marius himself was observing the room's occupant with interest. Another semi-familiar face, he noted, but fortunately not one he'd had much previous association with. No bad memories to get in the way, which meant this was the perfect opportunity to create new ones. "Why don't we ask?" the X-Man replied. He pressed the intercom button to the Danger Room. "Oi, care for some company in there?" Jono hadn’t brought his lightwriter into the danger room, it had felt like a bad idea at the time. But now, not bringing it felt like a worse idea. Of course this would happen to him. He turned to look towards the door, unsure if his eyes were even visible through the fire that seeped out of his face. He couldn’t even grimace. He steeled himself for failure and then thought very very hard in the direction of the door. ”I don’t think that’s safe for you.” "Hey, telepathy! I didn't know you can do that," Madin said, choking down their inherent 'stay out of my brain' response. "Yeah, I can't come in but Marius reckons he can." "Correct," Marius said with considerable aplomb for a man responding to what was by far his least favourite mode of communication, "I am a veritable sponge for offensive mutations such as your own. This was, in fact, the pretext for the training session upon which Madin and I were about to embark." ”It’s new.” Jono replied to Madin, just as uncomfortable with the mutation as they were. ”I’m not trying to be offensive. Just trying to get used to it.” "Ah, no worries. That is, after all, the point of this place. Helped me adjust to my particular issues in times long past. Not so obvious these days, but . . ." Marius raised a hand to the window and peeled back his glove to display the tooth-ringed orifice in the centre of his palm long enough for the younger man to get a good look. It was impulsively done; as a rule Marius found it easier to hold a conversation when the opposite party wasn't wondering whether a handshake was going to draw blood. In this case, however, he felt compelled to make an exception. Jono and Madin were visible mutants, and Marius hadn't always been able to pass with only a set of gloves. Madin grunted at the sight of his hands. Huh. Bet he chomped his way through a lot of gloves. "He's - I think. It was. um. a lot of words. But he's right and was going to help me work on some powers stuff without, like, just melting everything." They grinned. "Which, there's nothing wrong with setting everything on fire. I did a lot of that when I was younger, but like, it's not always the best option, you know?" ”As long as you’re sure you won’t die. Come in.” Jono felt like he was probably going to regret that decision. But the older man seemed awfully sure about this. |
