As the name indicates...this RPG will revolve around Crossroads and New Beginnings.CrossroadsWe would like to see characters come to a 'crossroads' in their lives where important and life changing decisions have to be made. These events can be very personal...i.e. a relationship beginning, ending or changing, or they can be moral or spiritual. Whatever is decided, they should show 'growth' for your character.New BeginningsThis can be any number of items as well and most likely will relate back to the 'crossroads' in your character(s)' life or lives and/or career. They may be starting a new career as teacher or student at Xavier's School for the Gifted or may have been selected to train for the upcoming X-Men team(s). Their 'new beginning' once again may be as simple as establishing a new relationship or changes in an old one.
The X-Men and all likenesses are the property of Marvel Comics, 20th Century FOX, and ALL the creative minds therein. X-Men Crossroads is a non-profit RPG board. We here participate for the pure enjoyment and satisfaction writing in the X-Men Universe brings.Most of the Bio information is courtersy of Marvel Directory
Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Shen Xorn With: Anyone interested When: Afternoon Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute
Shen sat in the sunlight of the garden. Around him the world was sinking as the afternoon began to transition into evening. As the sunlight cast long shadows, Shen exhaled. He could see the world around him. It would have been beautiful as viewed in the "visable light" part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Shen however to use "infrared" as it allowed him to "see" more in bad light conditions. Shen body went through the motions of an exhale. Shen didn't know if he needed to breathe anymore, his mutation had strange side effects.
Shen focused his mind inward and shut off the outside world. He chose not to see and not to hear. He was alone in his personal darkness as his mind began to go further and further into itself. He focused only on the sound of "Om" and let that one sound fill his thoughts. It would have been easy to focus the sound outwards and fill the garden with the sound, but the goal was for complete silence. Zen emphasized medatation of a quiet sort while Tibetan Buddhism focused heavily on the chants and ritual.
Shen's body straightened involuntarily as his body began to rise. He did not know how long it had taken him to reach this stage where he was levitating. It was getting easier and easier to raise himself in the air and hold himself there. Shen held his body about a foot and a half over the ground. Insects in the grass were pulled off the ground as were small stones. He sensed rather than saw the disturbance he was creating and focused more on himself. The insects and stones slowly descended to the earth and Shen's body rose higher in the air. He was now in a lotus posture approximately four feet above the ground, holding steady.
MarinaBlack X-23/Stacy X
Posts: 113
(5/29/06 4:52 pm)
Re: Attempting Enlightenment
Who: Stacy X
With: Xorn, Open
When: Afternoon
Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute
God Dayum there were too many people out on the patio. She had gone out there to see the little freakazoid Karika who she had met in the sewers. The girl was a cute little bugger, but crazier than all hell. In fact, everyone here seemed a little off. They were either feral, blue or had some deep seated anger management issues...or, like her, terrible thigs in their lives that they were trying to overcome. Maybe it was part of the Mutant X gene or something...
Moving to the back yard, following the scent of fresh flowers, she found herself at the entrance of a beautiful garden. Stacy had to admit, she hadn't seen a garden since...aw hell, she'd only seen pictures of gardens. But this vision far surpassed anything that 'Home and Gardens' magazine had to offer her. It was a vision of beauty in nature.
Stepping in, she wrapped her arms around herself. It wasn't cold...but she was getting chills from the power of the place. A soft 'ohm' broke her out of her reverie; that wasn't no bee! That was a person who was...holy mother of pete. Stacy X found herself face to face with a man who was levitating four feet above the ground. Unable to keep it in anymore, Stacy spoke.
"Now tha's a talent I'd be happy ta have." She said, shaking her head. Dayum...she had to get hormone powers to control rectal function and orgasms...plus, she had scaly skin like a snake. Couldn't she have been a flier? Or a person who could walk on water? God worked in mysterious ways...
Tags: Shen
Re: Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Shen Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute With: Stacy X, Open When: Afternoon
Shen sensed rather than saw the new arrival. He unfolded his legs slowly, adjusting himself so that he was now standing on the earth. The elaborate helmet which concealed the black hole looked directly at Stacy X. The darkness which loomed behind the eye holes looked at her. Shen focused for a moment, registering Stacy first in infrared, then in visable light. He made no physical reaction to her appearance, he was shocked that she hand't fled from him given the heavy helmet.
Shen focused for a moment, causing a slight hissing sound as he began to manipulate air particles with the gravitational field of his black hole, his physical brain. "I am Shen Xorn," he said, his voice low and raspy, the sound carried well. It reverberated slightly with some of the void which emitted the sound. His 'voice" was one of his creepier features, add that to his mask and you would have something worthy of a horror movie, ironic given his complete pacificism.
"Now tha's a talent I'd be happy ta have."
"It has a heavy price," Shen stated simply. He wasn't any to fond of telling a person he had just met that he was responsible for the death of over 500 persons. It was something that remained with him. Personally responsible for the death of over 500 humans, that had to be some sort of record.
Tags: Stacy X
Edited by: Mana4X2 at: 5/30/06 7:12 am
MarinaBlack X-23/Stacy X
Posts: 115
(5/30/06 2:01 pm)
Re: Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Stacy X
With: Xorn
When: Afternoon
Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute
The floating man seemed friendly enough, at least by Stacy's standards. And that was saying something. Most of the men she had come across weren't 'friendly' in the traditional sense of the word. "I am Shen Xorn," Smirking, Stacy folded her arms. "Tha's a cool name. Are ya Mongolian or summat?" Okay, so she wasn't very well educated...but she was trying. "I'm Stacy X, itsa pleasure t'meetcha."
His voice was a little...wierd. But Stacy didn't mind. Her face was a little wierd, and he hadn't said anything about that. Speaking of faces, she couldn't even see his. She wondered what he had to hide...maybe he had a wierd mole or something. She rode it off as personal preference. "It has a heavy price," Or maybe it was his power... "They all do, babe. Bein' a mutant ain' easy."
Shrugging, she watched him create some sort of black hole around himself. "Tha's real interestin' babe...ya got friends in tha hole or do ya just like ta hear yer voice echo?" Stacy laughed...she, of course, found herself quite hilarious. Whether he would or not was the toss up...
Tags: Shen
"I am half-Tibetan, half-Chinese," Shen stated, "but I have spent time near Mongolia." It was true. The prison camp where he and Li had been was near the Mongolian border, one of the most desolate places on Earth. It was miles from the nearest permanent settlement and no one could have survivied in the desert of that region for very long. In the winter you would freeze to death, in the summer you would collapse from exhaustion. Shen focused inward and the air molicules reverberated, making a slight hissing sound as though he were exhaling. They were not pleasant memories.
"I'm Stacy X, itsa pleasure t'meetcha."
Shen placed his hands together and bowed from the waist slightly. Shen had yet to embrace the custom of shaking hands and felt more comfortable with the bow. He straightened up slowly though, trying to compensate for the weight of the helmet and the density of the black hole. Other side effects of his mutation. Shen had never weighed the helmet officially, but he knew it felt heavy.
"They all do, babe. Bein' a mutant ain' easy."
There was a slight rasping sound as Shen laughed slightly. He knew this better than most people. He had been torn away from his family because of his possible mutation and he had seen his brother killed because of his mutation. Shen knew very well that being a mutant was far from easy. The void behind the eye holes of the mask looked directly at Stacy. The few times that Shen had dared to see his reflection in the visable spectrum, he had been frightened of his own appearance, of the void which were his 'eyes'.
"Tha's real interestin' babe...ya got friends in tha hole or do ya just like ta hear yer voice echo?"
Again there was the rasp of Shen's laughter. He had friends in the hole, 546 of them to be percise, but he didn't want to mention that. "When a fish meets the fishhook, if he is too greedy he will be caught. When his mouth opens, his life is already lost," Shen quipped, using a Zen proverb. It described the fate of those who hah been greedy for knowledge and had pushed Li to his death and Shen had opened his mouth in despair and thus lost his right to live. At least in his own view.
Tags: Stacy X
Edited by: terminus00 at: 5/30/06 8:09 pm
MarinaBlack X-23/Stacy X
Posts: 117
(5/31/06 12:36 pm)
Stacy had to admit...this guy was a little strange. Not that she minded, she kind of liked his freakiness. The hissing was...different, but everyone had their quirks. Stacy's quirks were mostly sex related...one, that she had absolutely no respect for sex and two, that she spoke like a sex-worker. Shen didn't seem to care though, he answered her question without berating her for her curiosity. "I am half-Tibetan, half-Chinese,""but I have spent time near Mongolia." "Tha's cool...I dunno what my nationality is...but I'm from Lousiana."
New Orleans and the testing that they had done on her were not her favorite things to remember. Hell, it was what she had striven her whole life to forget. Stacy didn't even know why he was telling him that...they just met. Then again, he was nice, he was polite, and he bowed when she said hello. Now THAT was wierd...was he some sort of king or something?
Bending her legs, she made a little dip for a curtsey. It was the best she could do. At least he didn't find her completely offensive AND he laughed at her jokes. "When a fish meets the fishhook, if he is too greedy he will be caught. When his mouth opens, his life is already lost," His words startled something in her..."Are you tellin' me ta shut up, baby cakes? Cause' I ain' lyin' when I say tha' I don' take t'ings like tha so well." Especially not from men...
Re: Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Shen With: Stacy, Open Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute When: Afternoon
"Tha's cool...I dunno what my nationality is...but I'm from Lousiana."
"What maters the origin, it is the journey that is important," Shen quipped. It was his own philosophy as well as Zen philosophy. Zen was all about the moment about how to extend the realization of the moment, about how to free oneself from the linear concept of time. Linear time was a non-entity for some practitioners of Zen Buddhism.
"Are you tellin' me ta shut up, baby cakes? Cause' I ain' lyin' when I say tha' I don' take t'ings like tha so well."
"I mean to say that there are some questions to which you would not want the answer, but if you must know, my voice is...a side effect of my mutation. The helmet is necessary to keep the mutation in check," Shen stated simply. He would state no more unless he was pressed. If she wanted the information about what sort of monster he was, she would ask for it. He had given her more information than he gave to most, and he had given it willingly. Some in the mansion didn't even know his name and just knew his as the "floating dude" or "Sean" which seemed easier for some residents to pronounce.
Tags: Stacy
Edited by: terminus00 at: 5/31/06 10:17 pm
MarinaBlack X-23/Stacy X
Posts: 117
(6/1/06 5:21 am)
When Shen said was true, "What maters the origin, it is the journey that is important,"; in some cases, that was. Stacy wished every day she knew where the hell she came from. Of course she had a mother and a father at some point...but...who were they? Why did they give her up? Was her mutation caused my something her mother had done? Or her father? Were her parents mutants too?
All of her questions were locked inside a vault in her mind. It wasn't for anyone but her to know. Sort of like Shen felt about saying what he meant; she didn't automatically hate him (a large step up from her arrival point) but she was wary of him still. "I mean to say that there are some questions to which you would not want the answer, but if you must know, my voice is...a side effect of my mutation. The helmet is necessary to keep the mutation in check," "Ya know, there's one thing abou' not bein' able ta go ta school as a kid...ya really wanna know tha' answers ta everythin'" Stacy said as a challenge. She could take when he threw at her...
And now she understood about that helmet and his voice. "Hey, come on love...tha's no' tha' bad." Looking down at her deformed and scaled skin, she laughed again. "I'd say ya got tha' better deal. But then again, I guess ya can do more than fly if ya gotta keep yer power in check like tha'."
"Ya know, there's one thing abou' not bein' able ta go ta school as a kid...ya really wanna know tha' answers ta everythin'"
Shen only nodded, he could relate to that. He had been in the Chinese prison camps, they were not exactly instititutions of higher learning. He had been granted books, but that was all. He hadn't been formerly educated and he was still trying to catch up on the years he had missed. Time had dragged in the world of the prison, especially the years when his mind had become what it was now.
"Hey, come on love...tha's no' tha' bad...I'd say ya got tha' better deal. But then again, I guess ya can do more than fly if ya gotta keep yer power in check like tha'."
"My mind is a physical black hole," Shen stated simply, "It has a many effects upon my style of life." It was true. Even he didn't know much power the black hole granted him. Stacy had seen perhaps the most flashy part of his power with the levitation. Shen was not willing to take the helmet off. He could keep the black hole from doing what it was meant to do. It could only consume and destroy life, he was the gateway to the void
Tags: Stacy
MarinaBlack X-23/Stacy X
Posts: 118
(6/2/06 7:18 am)
He seemed to know...a lot. Stacy couldn't exactly pinpoint what he knew, because that wasn't her power, but she had a sixth sense. She could tell when someone was really smart and this guy, he seemed so. Moving over to a stone bench, she carefully took a seat and crossed her legs.
It was a nice day out, the sun was shining brightly and the world was thawing out after a long winter. It was May now, one of Stacy's favorite months now that she had been sprung from X Ranch. Not that she was ever a literal prisoner there...but it had enclosed her, it took her hostage. It destoryed her.
"My mind is a physical black hole," "It has a many effects upon my style of life." Stacy looked up and raised an eyebrow. "I guess tha' means ya forget a lotta stuff, huh?" She joked. "I guess I won' be rememberin' ma birthday." She really was kidding...but she had no idea what having a 'black hole' mind meant. Being completely uneduated, she had no idea what a black hole really was. Sure, she had an idea...but that was a far cry from understandning.
Tags: Shen
If Shen had lips he would have smiled. He didn't though and there was the rasping sound of a chuckle. He moved effortless, quietly, showing control over every movement, every facet of his body. He sat at the other end of the bench diliberately, slowly, with great caution. He sat in silence for the moment, letting the quiet hum of insects and the twittering of birds float in the air. In the space, in the silence, Shen focused his mind inward. His body began to float off the bench and he held it there, pulling his legs under his body slowly. He held the position well, not a full lotus, but a useful postured for meditation.
"A black hole is a collapsed sun. When a star has grown extremely dense, it might collapse upon itself, creating a hole in space time. At one point, I had a microscopic sun in my brain. This sun, though smal, was dense. This star collapsed upon itself, creating a black hole. A black hole emits a gravitational force so powerful, that even light is bent," Shen explained slowly. The Professor had taught him what his mind was, the Chinese Government has only told him that he was of more use to them alive then dead. Shen had looked out upon the gardens, choosing to view them in the ultraviolet spectrum, which was one of his favorites, especially with this kind of light.
Shen 'exhaled' softly. He had a feeling that he and Stacy had much in common with some things. He felt that both of them had been in some form of bondage. He could recognize the look of others who had been in a state such as he had been in. He was still trying to gain citizenship to the United States which was proving difficult. He could not and would not return to China, where his life had been one which most people would have commited suicide under. Shen just exhaled again, slightly more audibly this time.
MarinaBlack X-23/Stacy X
Posts: 119
(6/3/06 2:54 pm)
Re: Attempting Enlightenment
Who: Stacy X
With: Shen
Where: Gardens
When: Afternoon
Warning: Language
Stacy wondered if Shen could read her mind. "A black hole is a collapsed sun. When a star has grown extremely dense, it might collapse upon itself, creating a hole in space time. At one point, I had a microscopic sun in my brain. This sun, though smal, was dense. This star collapsed upon itself, creating a black hole. A black hole emits a gravitational force so powerful, that even light is bent," For a moment, she just stared at him. Her dark hazel eyes burning into him as she thought about what he said.
For several moments she was silent (A very Un-Stacy-like thing to do). Then, before she could stop it, she spoke, "Holy shit." Shaking her head, she couldn't believe it. "How tha hell did ya get one of them in yer head?" He seemed to be sad, he was sighing at least. Stacy hoped it wasn't something she said...but she was very shocked. How did his mother give birth to a boy with a black hole brain? What had she been smoking? It was all a mystery to her.
Re: Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Shen With: Stacy X Where: Gardens When: Late Afternoon
Warning: Minor Language, description of tortue
"How tha hell did ya get one of them in yer head?"
Shen exhaled, long and slow. He was hoping she wouldn't have asked this question, he was really hoping she wouldn't ask that question. She had asked though. The black slits in Shen's elaborate helmet looked directly as Stacy. If she could see into them, she would see the abyss, the end of time itself. Shen remained in the air as there was a silence which could have been an infinity or just a moment. Shen would have closed his eyes, but that was a physical impossability.
"I was no more than eight years old when my older brother's mutation emerged. He was telekinetic. The Chinese government abducted me and my brother and killed our mother. For six years, I lived in a prison camp near the Mongolian border, it is the most desolate piece of Earth. While there, I saw things that no human should see. Mutants in China are treated less than...what is the word in English...swine. I was flogged, burned, had my feet shattered bone by bone, ceremonially cut, and nearly drowned on several occasions. I will spare you what else my people did to me, but let just say that I have lived some of the worst hell imaginable. One day, they took my brother's past my cell, he was dead. All the torture did not do to me what the sight of my brother's body did. My own mutation which had long lay dormant was activated by my despair. I killed 546 humans that day, 200 Chinese Military, 346 Prisioners like myself. 546 lives gone in less than a minute," Shen explained. He had slowly landed on the bench. He stared out into the garden. There was silence after he finished. She would run now, some part of Shen's mind knew that Stacy would run most likely. Even the professor hadn't been able to restrain an urge to look away from him when Shen had revealed what he had done.
"I am Shen Xorn, I have devoted my life to Buddha in hopes that one day, I may achieve enlightenment, but in this life time, all I can do is attempt enlightenment. I will reborn a mutant for what I have done," Shen said simply.
MarinaBlack X-23/Stacy X
Posts: 120
(6/4/06 9:33 am)
Re: Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Stacy X
With: Shen
When: Later-Afternoon
Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute
WARNING: Major Language and Minor Sexual Content
Stacy listened in wide-eyed horror as he spoke of his time in China. "I was no more than eight years old when my older brother's mutation emerged. He was telekinetic. The Chinese government abducted me and my brother and killed our mother. For six years, I lived in a prison camp near the Mongolian border, it is the most desolate piece of Earth. While there, I saw things that no human should see. Mutants in China are treated less than...what is the word in English...swine. I was flogged, burned, had my feet shattered bone by bone, ceremonially cut, and nearly drowned on several occasions. I will spare you what else my people did to me, but let just say that I have lived some of the worst hell imaginable. One day, they took my brother's past my cell, he was dead. All the torture did not do to me what the sight of my brother's body did. My own mutation which had long lay dormant was activated by my despair. I killed 546 humans that day, 200 Chinese Military, 346 Prisioners like myself. 546 lives gone in less than a minute," "I am Shen Xorn, I have devoted my life to Buddha in hopes that one day, I may achieve enlightenment, but in this life time, all I can do is attempt enlightenment. I will reborn a mutant for what I have done,"
For several moments, Stacy could only swallow the bile that as sitting, burning in the back of her throat. "Y' know...I oughta learn t' keep my fuckin' mouth shut!" She said finally, berating herself for making him relive that tidbit of history. Suddenly, her life seemed like a joke. How could she be sad about a fate she brought upon herself when Shen had been tortured so? It disgusted her...
"Y' didn' do anythin' wrong." She stepped forward until she was barely a foot away from him. "It wasn' yer fault tha' mutation isn't understood and is feared. It ain' yer fault tha' they totured you, tha was their wrong." Stacy had never been so angry in her life...she had never felt such hatred for people she didn't even know. Her pulse was racing, she was downright livid. "Don' ya dare think tha' an explosion of power wasn' comin'. They forced ya..."
Turning her head she spat the awful taste out of her mouth. "Ya know, ya may say...what does she know? Tha' Stacy X is nothin' but a fuckin' hooker. Ya know, tha kind a' mutant hooker tha' uses her powers for sex." Her body was shaking with rage. "And tha's true, tha's very true. My life was spent with a completely different kinda torture...nothin' remotely like yers. But I can tell you what!" She said, pointing her finger at him. "Everythin' happens fer a reason!"
Tags: Shen
Re: Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Shen With: Stacy X When: Late Afternoon Where: The Gardens
Warning: Language, description of death
"It wasn' yer fault tha' mutation isn't understood and is feared. It ain' yer fault tha' they totured you, tha was their wrong. Don' ya dare think tha' an explosion of power wasn' comin'. They forced ya..."
"If I was a better student of the teachings of Buddha, I would have learned how to free myself of emotion, I woul have been able..." Shen stopped himself. His already ragged voice was ragged with emotion. The calm state which he needed to maintain to levitate was lost from him. He was now sitting on the bench, both of hands holding the metal helmet. He remembered Li's body, how it had been pulled past his cell in a hand cart. Shen remembered the absolute sorry of seeing his brother, dead. Li was the only reason that Shen had been able to endure here, hoping that he and his brother would eventually be released. Then Shen had given in, to all his despair and frustration. He went deep within his mind as he had cried out in pain, and for a moment the world went black. Then had come the explosion of awareness, he 'saw' in almost every wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum and he could 'hear' the sound of atoms colliding. He felt the walls cave in. He could feel the prison being torn apart by his newly opened mind. He heard the screams, and then...silence.
"Ya know, ya may say...what does she know? Tha' Stacy X is nothin' but a fuckin' hooker. Ya know, tha kind a' mutant hooker tha' uses her powers for sex.And tha's true, tha's very true. My life was spent with a completely different kinda torture...nothin' remotely like yers. But I can tell you what! Everythin' happens fer a reason!"
Shen wanted to make a comment about Calvinism, but he restrained himself. He said nothing for a moment. He saw her anger and he knew that is someways, they were the same. They had both survivied hell, and other different circumstances...but circumstances were as they were and Shen had a black hole where his head should be. "You and I are different Stacy. Not from each other, but from many of those in the mansion. They may have suffered under various hands, but we...we are survivors. You survivied the hell of a world I do not know, but I know it must have been a living nightmare. Me, I surivived six years of extensive torture followed by five years of complete isolation. We are survivors," Shen stated, looking directly at her. Shen pulled himself up and stood for a moment. He pulled both hands off of his helmet and continued to look at Stacy. He bowed to her, slowly, and more deeply than his initial bow to her had been. With his waist bent, he said a single word, "Namaste."
Tags: Stacy
Edited by: terminus00 at: 6/4/06 11:59 am
MarinaBlack X-23/Stacy X
Posts: 121
(6/4/06 2:13 pm)
Re: Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Stacy X
With: Shen
When: Later-Afternoon
Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute
Warning: Death and Minor Sexual Content
Stacy didn't understand why the flames of anger were slowly tearing down the walls she had built up for so long. Something about Shen and his situation was making her angrier than she had been in a long time...the last time she had been this angry she had been rocking the corpse of her best, and only, friend. She had been so cold, so ashen colored...no one came to the burial. Stacy had been forced to wear a black veil and her entire body covered in order to make sure no one saw what she was...
The priest had been giving Stacy disdainful looks. He knew what she was...she was a sex worker. She was lower than the scum of the earth. Stacy couldn't even bring herself to cry; she couldn't. So the emotion built higher, creating a blockade. There was nothing left for her to do; she had stopped feeling. "If I was a better student of the teachings of Buddha, I would have learned how to free myself of emotion, I woul have been able..." "Emotion is important, Shen. I didn' feel fer years. Ya learn ta jus' stare at the ceiling...ya learn how ta' take the love outta love." Being a hooker had done that to her. "Every time a man would touch ma body, I jus' though' 'bout summat else. Ya know, tha only time I spent thinkin' was when I had customers..."
A bitter laugh escaped her. "Maybe tha's why I was able ta to it fer so long." Her jagged nails raked through her dark hair as she sighed. How did she get here? How the hell did she come so far in such a short time? Why was she telling him this?
"You and I are different Stacy. Not from each other, but from many of those in the mansion. They may have suffered under various hands, but we...we are survivors. You survivied the hell of a world I do not know, but I know it must have been a living nightmare. Me, I surivived six years of extensive torture followed by five years of complete isolation. We are survivors" Looking up she swallowed the lump in her throat. He was right; she was different. He was too. That didn't make them exactly the same...but it sure as hell made it more real than it had ever been.
Suddenly, he seemed to be taking his hands off his helmet. She wondered what that was going to do...for a moment she only stared. Her dark hazel eyes bore into him, saying nothing, moving not a muscle. "Namaste." He spoke gently. She didn't know what that meant...but he was bowing to her again. Following suit, she tried to pronounce the word back, but it ended up sounding stupid, she was sure. "Namaste."
Tags: Shen
OOC: whoops, my bad, edited that. Thanks Edited by: MarinaBlack at: 6/4/06 6:00 pm
Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Shen With: Stacy X When: Later Afternoon Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute
Warning: Minor language and minor sexual content
"Emotion is important, Shen. I didn' feel fer years. Ya learn ta jus' stare at the ceiling...ya learn how ta' take the love outta love.Every time a man would touch ma body, I jus' though' 'bout summat else. Ya know, tha only time I spent thinkin' was when I had customers..."
Shen said nothing. He stood tall and looked at Stacy. Through the dark slits of his helmet he saw her. He saw her in every wave length of the electromagnetic spectrum. He saw the pain, the anger, the sorrow. If Shen could remove his helmet, he would have. Shen couldn't do, to do so would be to allow the black hole out, to let it consume everything. The one time he had taken it off he had been in the center of the the lake of the institute, trying to attain Nirvana. He hadn't attained Nirvana that day, only a few fish and a couple of gallons worth of lake water.
"You did what you had to survive," Shen stated simply He didn't know how much of this was the truth, but he was willing to believe it was the truth. They were visable mutants, both of them. They could not hide what they were from the world. Stacy had her skin and he had a metal helmet that would have been something to contain Hannibal Lecter. Very few humans would ever understand what it was like to be them, so different from even their kind.
"Namaste."
Shen could tell that Stacy had difficulty pronouncing the word and he chuckled slightly. He was not laughing at her persay, she had made an effort, and that was more than some. It had taken Shen time to learn to speak given his current physical appearance and lack of a tongue and most likely lack of vocal chords.
"Namaste, it is a very profound word. Roughly translated from Sandskrit it means, 'I salute the divine within you'," Shen explained, "Though it has become a cultural phenomena in places such as California, I believe it should only be used with those you have respect for."
Tags: Stacy
MarinaBlack X-23/Stacy X
Posts: 120
(6/4/06 6:08 pm)
Re: Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Stacy X
With: Shen
When: Later-Afternoon
Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute
Stacy had been expecting a lot of things...but for Shen to say he understood, that was not one of them. "You did what you had to survive," Not many people understood that she really had nowhere else to go. She had been dying in the sewers...just a few more months down there and there would be one less snake in the world. But most people still thought turning to sex was worse than death...it took a very strong, very open-minded person to see why she did it. "Yeh...survival. Some a' us weren't so lucky." She shuddered at the thought. She had seen more than one woman die of AIDS or in childbirth.
Whoring was probably the second most dangerous profession in the world. The first being, of course, soldiers. And not just Army men and women, but anyone who fought for what they believed in...like Shen. Who...seemed to be laughing at her. Folding her arms, she chuckled. "I tried, I ain' real good with pronouncin' things if ya couldn' tell." And that was quite obvious...
"Namaste, it is a very profound word. Roughly translated from Sandskrit it means, 'I salute the divine within you',""Though it has become a cultural phenomena in places such as California, I believe it should only be used with those you have respect for." Stacy raised her eyebrow. "I think it sounds cooler in Sandskrit..." She said with a chortle. "Cause' 'I salute yer devine' summat or other sounds real silly in English." She smirked again. "But my 'Namaste' stands," she raised her hand and gave him a real American salute. "I salute ya, babe. An' I respect ya."
Stacy just smiled, she did respect him and she did salute his inner divinity. He understood her, and that was enough to make her trust him too...and trusting was something Stacy had not done in a long time.
Tags: Shen
Re: Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Shen With: Stacy X When Later-Afternoon Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute
"Yeh...survival. Some a' us weren't so lucky."
Shen just nodded. He knew that to walk the streets was dangerous. There were all manner of venerial diseases and then there was always the possability a trick could turn on you. He had heard some from an aged prostitute who had been in the cell across from his in the Mongolian prison camp. The old woman was half insane with syphalus and didn't make much sense anymore. She had been moved however from his cell block. Shen didn't really remember all that much of her.
"I tried, I ain' real good with pronouncin' things if ya couldn' tell."
"You did more than some will ever do, especially given it is not the easiest word to pronounce," Shen said simply. If he had lips he would have smiled. If he had eyes, they would have been kind. If he had a face, it would be looking kindly on Stacy. Shen had none of these things however, so he tilted his head slightly.
"Cause' 'I salute yer devine' summat or other sounds real silly in English."
"You should hear the equivalent in Japanese," Shen stated simply. It was a personal bias, given he had never heard it pronounced, so he could only approximate the sound. Shen had heard Namaste though, thus he knew what sound to imitate when he shifted air particles with the gravitational field of his black hole. It had taken a long time for Shen to learn to speak.
"I salute ya, babe. An' I respect ya."
"Thank you," Shen responed in Mandarin without meaning to. If he had a face he would have looked embarassed. He didn't have a face though, and the helmet conveyed no emotion. Shen shrugged his shoulders gently. "If you hadn't guessed, English is not my first language," Shen said simply in way of explination.
MarinaBlack X-23/Stacy X
Posts: 120
(6/5/06 4:32 pm)
Re: Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Stacy X
With: Shen
When: Later-Afternoon
Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute
Stacy had to admit, Shen was really going out of his way to make her feel comfortable in her own skin. Never once in Stacy's fall from innocence to experiance had she felt good about who she was. As a child she had thought herself ill, as they told her that the reason her skin looked like it did was due to a disfuguring sking disease. Only later did Stacy find out that she was a mutant, and that her skin wasn't contagious.
And Shen wasn't treating her like she was diseased either. "You did more than some will ever do, especially given it is not the easiest word to pronounce," Stacy chuckled. "Well I always say, as long as ya try, tha's wha' counts." And something else that counted was his ability to catch onto her jokes...and make some of his own. "You should hear the equivalent in Japanese," "I'm sure tha' it's real interestin'"
At the same time as he was making her feel good, he seemed to be putting himself down. "Thank you," He said in some wierd language that Stacy wasn't even going to try and understand. "If you hadn't guessed, English is not my first language," Smiling, Stacy just shrugged, "Lotsa girls lika a man who cen talk dirty ta them in more than one language. It sounds betta tha way."
Tags: Shen
Re: Attempting EnlightenmentWho: Shen With: Stacy X When: Later-Afternoon Where: Gardens of the Xavier Institute
"Lotsa girls lika a man who cen talk dirty ta them in more than one language. It sounds betta tha way."
Shen tried to contain a sputtering, successfully too. If he had skin he would have turned a shade of red which would have but a nearby rose bush to shame. Shen turned his head slightly, forgetting for a moment that he had no skin to show the tell tale sign. He soon remembered though and turned back to Stacy. The features of the mask remained calm and passive. Shen had to think for a moment to come up with a reply.
"Is that so?" Shen responded in Mandarin, letting the syllables which formed the Chinese language resonate in the air. He walked forward, putting on a show of confidence. "Then I have a slight advantage, I am trilingual, I speak Tibetan, Mandarin dialect Chinese and English," Shen explained simply. He decided not to tell Stacy which language he had been using earlier, it was more fun that way. Shen stood not more than two feet away from Stacy now, just slightly taller than she, but not by much. She may well have been taller than he if she had been wearing a pair of heels.
Background: Many, many years ago, Charles Francis Xavier established Xavier's School for the Gifted. Also, seeing other Mutants misusing and abusing their powers, he created the first generation of the X-Men.This original team was trained and lead by an old friend of his...Logan, aka Wolverine. Logan's co-leader was a young woman and student named Ororo Munroe, aka Storm. Once the team was trained and fielded on active missions, they took on the additional responsibility of teaching and helping new Mutants deal with their powers.On one horrible night, the X-Men were fielded to stop a particularly powerful Mutant and his 'gang'. The 'intelligence' received on this Mutant and his cohorts was sketchy and actually turned out to be a set-up to entrap the X-Men and take them captive. In the ensuing melee', 'things' happened and a number of the team were killed outright or severely injured.After making sure his remaining team-mates were going to be okay, Logan left. Xavier has not, to current time, explained his absence or even whether or not he survived.Current Time/Game Time: Almost seven years later, as Human/Mutant incidents are on the rise, Xavier once again sees a need for a Mutant 'police force'. He sees this new X-Men team as a force for good and a way to help peacefully integrate the rapidly emerging Mutant society with the established Human society. To this end, he has contacted Logan and asked him to 'come home' and train his 'new' team.
Logan has reluctantly agreed.Can shadows from their past be put aside for the good of the new X-Men? How will the surviving members of the original team react and what will they do as 'truths' are learned about that disastrous night?Note: We want the new X-Men to include younger versions of the old familiar characters such as Scott, Jean, Beast etc...as well as many of the OCC’s and other Canon characters that are available.Please ask the Staff BEFORE stating or establishing that your character was one of the old, now disbanded, original X-Men.
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