On the Rise (PUSE Memebers)

[Joe Honnick]

Joe poured himself a cup of coffee as he waited for others to arrive at the meeting. His wife had supplied him with delicious peanut butter cookies and brownies but had opted to stay home with Lesedi, who was having a bad day. It happened from time to time and it wore hard on both Joe and Jasmine, but Lesedi was getting better. It only reminded Joe of why he was doing this. To protect people from those abusive meta humans and their tendency to abuse their power against those who had no defense against it. As Joe was learning, there was also a gradient between meta humans as well, there were those who were more advantaged than others, but all still had a leg up on baseline humans. He took a moment to gather his thoughts and finally put his cup down at his seat and went about sifting through his briefcase.

PUSE was still starting up and though membership was growing slowly and steadily the recent incident of anti-meta human actions had been more harmful to PUSE than helpful. As much as Joe didn’t care what happened to the meta humans they couldn’t be seen as a politically discriminating party. Joe had been a lawyer long enough to know that that was not a positive way to go, especially not in an all inclusive state such as Vermont. Joe himself identified as a liberal and he respected civil rights, but he also acknowledged the hard truth that not a lot of people seemed comfortable addressing, which was that meta humans, especially in politics, could be extremely dangerous. Specifically those mind benders and thought readers. They were walking dangers and there had to be some checks on their power and the government had been hesitant to move on that so far.

Allowing himself a moment to close his eyes Joe found a calm and waited for those loyal to PUSE’s cause to appear so they could work on their next big thing. The Rally had really been nothing but a positive experience, they had handled hecklers and debaters alike and no one affiliated with PUSE had acted in any way that Joe would have issue with. They were going to have opponents to their cause but Joe knew their cause was just. Someone needed to stand against the meta humans and their powers, but one baseline human could not go up against a powerful meta and come out on top, but with enough baseline humans together they could draw support and attention and maybe finally start to head toward equality.

[Jeremy Derenstein]

Jeremy was often an early arrival. He seemed tireless in all his pursuits, which made him not only a valuable member of PUSE, but of all his endeavors in the rest of his political sphere; he had multiple entryways into the world of law-making and many friends whom he had won over with his earnest enthusiasm, his boundless energy, and his dedication. He had always done his best to prove to Joe Honnick the same…though his motivations went beyond simple ingratiation.

The recent anti-meta attacks, he had to admit, were not good for the cause. He’d taken an interest in them, followed every reporting on the incidents, and deflected e-mails to his PUSE account that blamed them for the attacks. He would have to bring that up with the rest of them, later. Jeremy thought a public declaration that PUSE was not involved was in order.

When he arrived, Jeremy was wearing a simple dress shirt and slacks, his top a smooth lavender color and his tie and deep blue. He had something folded under his arm, which looked to be notebooks, and his canvas bag dangled under his shoulder. It contained his laptop; as PUSE secretary, it was his duty to record meetings, after all.

He stuck out his hand and smiled. “How are you tonight, sir?” he asked him.

[Deleted]

Derek was unsure of how many members of the PUSE organization were acquainted with the fact that he was a meta-human, but quite frankly, he didn’t care. Derek would point out how much his power lacked any sort of threatening quality, especially when there were powers like telepathy, hypnotism, pheromone manipulation, and memory manipulation out there, all of which Derek felt posed the greatest threat to politics, congruent with PUSE’s cause. With those kind of powers around, Derek would argue that his presence in the group was far more advantageous to them than not.

This was one thing that Derek admired about PUSE’s president, Joe Honnick. He was a smart man, blessed with the experience and wisdom of age. Rather than simply yelling and raving about things like an ignorant chid who didn’t bother to educate themselves, Joe had identified a real problem, a legitimate concern that Derek had first-hand experience with. Which was also why he admired Mr. Honnick’s concern over how these anti-meta attacks he’d heard of(which Derek had unfortunately not been present for) might drop the group’s image down to the level of a 3rd rate, no, a 4th rate hate group.

The only reason why Derek had not arrived early was because he had just come from a battle with traffic between Pilot Ridge and Burlington. Consequently, his dress was still that of his business suit, a dark blazer and slacks over a light blue dress shirt. He’d long since lost his tie moment after entering the car.

He strolled in, checking the time on his watch to assess his potential tartiness on his phone. Derek’s eyes found Mr. Honnick and offered him a courteous smile and nod of the head. A less genuine gesture was also offered to Mr. Derenstein. He carried with him a small, leather-bound notebook which he placed on the table before taking a seat. He would not speak unless addressed.

[Joe Honnick]

Joe was glad to know that no one from PUSE was involved in the attack, this was not how they operated. He’d already spoken with some of the store owners and offered his own personal funds to help them in any way he could, he’d worked hard to make sure that PUSE was seen as a force fighting against this violence not for. It was not a good situation for anyone. Someone could have been hurt and Joe was just glad that no one was. Meta or not, he wanted no one hurt which is why he found it so important that meta humans were controlled. The only meta human he wanted to see strung up was the telepath who’d broken his daughter. It was hard to remain impartial but it was also vital to do so. They had to be smart about this and no matter what these people thought, PUSE did not back them.

Joe was sipping at his coffee and fiddling with the cord of his laptop as he waited when he heard the door open. Many members were employed elsewhere, Joe himself was as well. PUSE wasn’t a big enough organization where it had very many funds to spare and no one was going to make money off of this cause. They needed every fund they had for advertising, papers, and lobbying. He looked up when Jeremy walked in and Joe rose to his feet. “Hello, Jeremy, I’m doing well, how are you?” He smiled pleasantly, “Please help yourself, Jasmine worked very hard on these.” Joe had a theory that like her days as an herbalist his wife had started to find comfort in mixing and it had translated into baking and she baked when she was stressed. Which unfortunately meant that Joe had put on a few pounds in his old age when she started baking more and more often. He couldn’t find it in his heart to deny her the chance to see his face when he tasted the deliciousness and he wouldn’t ask her to stop, not if that was what made her happy.

Derek was second in and Joe matched his smile and nod. Derek was definitely a special case, Joe was very aware of his status as a meta human, but he definitely recognized the usefulness of his power and it had been surprising to Joe when he’d learned of Derek’s own bias. He was one of the meta humans who recognized the danger of their power and the superiority it gave them. What was more is that he was brilliant. Definitely a man that Joe wanted on his side. “Good evening, how are you?” He asked pleasantly to Derek, he was a meta human but he was a part of PUSE as well. Admittedly Joe had been wary of having a meta human on board but the advantages outweighed the cost. Besides they were an organization of equality not oppression. “We’ll start in a few more minutes,” he checked his watch, it was already the hour, but he was hopeful that there would be a few more people filtering in. Not all of PUSE had been invited to this meeting, but there were a few more who he was hoping would make an appearance.