PUSE Rally

[Jeremy Derenstein]

Jeremy’s voice stilled as someone came through the crowd, with a big Great Dane by her side. He stopped, then began to nod, empathetically, almost, though Jeremy was prepared to argue his case.

”Excuse me, sir, what about the meta humans who do protect the common man? And the people who do use their power to help everyone?”

“Now,” he said. “there’s no doubt individuals with meta-powers can help us all. I’m not gonna deny it, I’m not gonna say anything about that. But plenty of things that benefit us have regulations on them, and the truth is that meta powers do not. We have laws in place for assault, theft, all sorts of things, but what about those powers that may go unnoticed? We may cover a physical injury through metaphysical means as a form of assault, but what of phasing, mindreading, or even the manipulation of our weather? All I’m saying is, if humans have evolved, it is only right that our laws evolve too. It would be reckless and irresponsible to ignore the effects of meta-powers.”

Jeremy went on, though this, in part, was a farce. He was still doing his own personal research of meta-humans – trying to find some trace of non-human evidence, wherever that may be. To him, they were something different, alien, even, though he kept this to himself; it would probably be radical even by PUSE standards.

“Besides. Meta individuals are human like the rest of us, at their core, and we don’t simply rely on the goodwill of others to protect us from harm. Some will be law-abiding citizens. Some will be criminals, and criminals will use everything at their disposal. It’s human nature.”

[Anastasia van Drakke]

Anastasia had heard of PUSE, but this was the first time she had attended one of their rallies. It was no small feat: the emotional energy was extremely strong, made stronger by the number of people who's attention was drawn to her as she arrived. Ivan made sure no one got close enough to touch her though. She needed her emotions to stay her own if she was to have any luck working with a crowd, even the relatively small one that had gathered here on the promise of free, cheap food.

What the human was saying was, of course, vague and open. That was the point of propaganda, wasn't it? The specifics weren't important.

Politely, she raised a hand before speaking. "Anastasia van Drakke," she said by way of an introduction, on the small chance that some people had never picked up a magazine or watched E!News in their lives. "Would you be so kind as to address just how you'd regulate something that differs from person to person? Would you suggest separate laws to cover every known power manifestation? Or just a general blanket ban?" She sent out a pulse of <outrage> to all those near her, soft enough to feel completely natural, as if they had decided this very idea was sick all on their own.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh pulled his coat closer, gloves obscuring the white-knuckled grip he had on the dark fabric. He'd promised to behave, which meant not engaging anyone in any sort of debates whatever. This was not to his liking; he was always eager to spread his opinions far and wide, particularly when confronted with views as reprehensible as those espoused by PUSE and their members.

He scanned the crowds, noting with some dismay that the local weather woman had made an appearance; he hoped it wasn't because she agreed with any of this, but rather that she was curious.

His musings on Idalia were cut short by the sounds of a familiar voice, and he halted. There was already quite a crowd surrounding the young speaker, and Josh had to crane his head over the other onlookers to see who was saying such horrifying words.

When he saw who it was he thought his heart was going to stop.

Jeremy Derenstein.

The nice, quiet, patient young man who worked at the LGBT Youth Center. The one who was so kind to the poor kids who came there for support.

The one who had reminded him so much of Sean.

He could feel himself shaking with fury, a fury that welled up higher as a young woman began asking questions. Through the haze of outrage he vaguely realized that Eva was the one responding to Jeremy, but he could barely think he was so upset.

"Can I argue with them now?" He whispered to Sean.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

It gave Idalia acute satisfaction that she wasn’t ignored. She crossed her arms and with Ike sitting with his head just a little under her elbow she knew they were quite an intimidating pair. Well if Idalia wasn’t intimidating her steed most certainly was. She expected him to deliver some bullshit answer and something that would make Idalia sick to her stomach and want to leave. Idalia didn’t like the idea of being regulated. They regulated business and hand laws in place for crimes but people weren’t regulated. Things were regulated. The idea of being regulated didn’t sit well with Idalia. What if her visions were regulated, would she not be able help people if it came from a vision. Well, really she only did a little better than the models but there were certain things that human forecasters could do and things that Idalia could do that the models couldn’t. It would be like suggesting forecasters be dismissed because the model made one accurate forecast.

Idalia gaped at him. Oh he was not going to talk about the weather manipulators to her. "That's insane!" Idalia heard herself saying, "Meta humans are not above the law." Granted she had had her fair share of fury over the long range and long term problems that arose from weather manipulators, honestly Idalia knew too much about the weather to be alright with anyone at all messing with it. But that didn’t mean she wanted to regulate it! She wanted to teach and to help people learn to use their powers, not to fear or to damage things. Rather, rain in a drought would be the best thing that could happen. She gritted her teeth and was about to snap like a viper at the young man when another person jumped into the debate. Idalia knew of Anastasia but had never had a conversation with her. After all, Idalia was a meteorology, she was in forecasting and broadcast for dirt pay, Anastasia was a big face. And she was on their side. Idalia looked back at the man to see his answer to that.

He had a point, people were people but there were laws in place for meta human criminals and there were meta humans in place in law enforcement to combat that. Idalia didn’t understand. Meta humans were people. People. They were all just people. Idalia’s fear and lack of understanding fell into a bout of anger. She didn’t want to be regulated. She’d never done anything wrong. All she’d ever done was help people with her power! Her hand rested on Ike’s head as she tried to steady herself. She had half a mind to tell Ike to ‘get ‘em’ which would only be Ike possibly licking the boy’s face off, but when a giant beast like Ike ran at someone they tended to be afraid. She tossed the idea aside. Ike would only create havoc. She nodded along with Anastasia add her voice to the crowds agreement in demanding an answer for that.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean knew that Josh was frustrated, and he knew that his partner was extending every ounce of emotional restraint that he had in order to hold his tongue. In this moment, he was glad that he was a telepath rather than an empath, because the older man did not want to feel this along with his partner, any more than he wanted to feel the emotions of the crowd around him. Hearing their thoughts was more than enough.

As difficult as it was, Josh would have to continue to hold himself back. “No,” the psychiatrist replied. “We can’t argue, and we can’t egg them on. Everything they say has to be without prompt.”

Sean then lowered his voice and added, “I’ll make this up to you.”

He would. However, in this moment, he had asked Josh along as support, but they had to abide by the rules of gathering information. It was frustrating and difficult, and his partner, as a non-psychic, did not have the same experience that Sean himself had for this task. Four decades of being unable to respond to people’s thoughts taught him how to hold his tongue.

That didn’t mean that he took no offense to the prejudice being sold as acceptance. The mere notion offended him, but he had obligations.

Around him, he saw and heard both Anastasia van Drakke and the meteorologist for the local news ask valid questions about laws. The fact of the matter was that nonconsensual use of meta-human abilities was already criminalized, but that wasn’t good enough for these PUSE members.

He took mental note of what Jeremy Derenstein said, although he didn’t comment. He didn’t comment on the fact that those same arguments had been used against gay people to prevent them from engaging with children, or continued to criminalize black men in the public sphere. Instead, he set on his sights on Joe Honnick.

[Joe Honnick]

Joe smiled pleasantly at T.K. He knew that their message was a hard one to swallow because for a lot of people that meant acknowledging that there was a problem when they would much rather go through life imagining that there was none. Joe may have at one time been hesitant of PUSE but knowing what these meta monsters could do without even an outward sign of danger. “Please, call me Joe,” he said with a smile and nodded. He was glad that T.K. was thinking about joining, he was definitely the kind of person who Joe felt would be able to fight with PUSE for equality. They were not about making meta humans be gone, they were about knocking down the demi-gods into the mud right along with the rest of the world. Joe didn’t know that PUSE would ever get so large and he had never anticipated that so many people would be drawn to his message. Looking around even with the people here who weren’t on his side he was getting their attention.

Joe almost dared a meta human to try something, then PUSE would get attention and it would be attention that would be negative on meta humans and PUSE would look like martyrs. Joe smiled and continued his patrol. His brows rose as his eyes fell on Sean. Well, he hadn’t expected to see the telepath here. Yes, Joe had done his homework and his people had given him a great deal of information and Joe had been mortified when he saw Sean’s picture on their database of known meta humans. It had given Joe quite a rage to know that he had been made a fool of. Joe painted a smile on his face and confidently approached Sean. “Ah, Sean, I’m glad to see you here,” he said giving the telepath a pat on the shoulder as he passed along with a few nasty thoughts, he gestured toward the food, “I wish I could stay and chat but I’m rather busy. Please you’ll have to try my wife’s cookies they’re very good, she worked so hard.” With that he paced away again. There he’s been nothing but pleasant on the surface and if Sean said something then he would be guilty of invading Joe’s privacy. A perfect reason meta humans needed to be supres – regulated.

Jeremy was drawing a crowd of his own. Joe nodded as Jeremy made a very good point. Criminals like the psychopath who had destroyed his daughter. He knew that Hammel protected meta humans. Even criminals. Wasn’t it even that Dr. Neville who was seen so frequently counseling and bailing people out of jail? Joe smiled a little, he knew very well and he’d been keeping tabs on the telepath, more now than ever. No one crossed Joe. Joe caught Jeremy’s eye and went to stand near the younger man, more as a backing force he was standing in the background. This Anastasia was asking a good question. Joe was there if Jeremy needed him to jump in, but Joe trusted Jeremy and he knew Jeremy had the courage to stand on his own. Joe was there if he needed support, he’d only jump in if things got hostile or if Jeremy wanted him to. PUSE’s legal plan was simple. Registration, tracking, and recording all instances of power use. Once a person was manifested as a meta human they would have to be registered, through Hammel, even. With tracking, meta humans could be identified with illegal uses of power and particularly in the way of telepaths and other privacy invaders they should be required to identify themselves as such and not be as sly as the telepath who neglected to inform Joe on their first meeting.

[Valentia de la Torres]

The idea wasn't one of her own. Valentia knew she wasn't required for protection by any means, but she still wanted to go along anyway. Anastasia had briefly explained what she knew of the organisation, and if nothing else, it was enough to flag the interest of the ergokinetic. In her experience, which she was sure would greatly outnumber that of the crowd, equality was a word never used correctly.

Across countries, that fact remained.

Folding her arms within the crowd, she stood at Anastasia's other side, effectively procuring her between two Odarennyi graduates. She didn't like crowds. She never had. Too many kinetic signals that ended up lost in transit. The energy blurred and shifted into a singular tense being. It, in turn, made her feel tension. Particularly when individuals got riled up so critically.

She briefly tossed a glance towards the woman who intently called out meta humans not being above the law.

Valentia crossed her gaze towards the man speaking again. All she did was breath a short, sharp chuckle. Etched with her own brand of <humour/ridicule>. A revolt; that was all this would cause. Far be it for her to point out how world-wide society was using meta humans to their advantage. The Russian military was pure proof of that.

[Ivan Avlang]

It couldn't be said enough how much Ivan hated crowds. Well, Ivan hated people but that's beside the point. The point being made here was the fact that he hated crowds. And this crowd especially, he hated beyond words.

Everyone should fear meta humans. That was the basic fact. They were superior. That is the basic fact. If they weren't, they would be called homo sapiens. Insignificant specks in the galactic verse that was meta humans.

And now these...mere men were rallying against them? It was ridiculous.

Of course, these rallies were supposed to be peaceful, weren't they? Let them do it under Odarennyi jurisdiction. But as it were, he had to keep his Ruh at bay. Even when he realised who was among them, of all people. Anastasia had mentioned the psychiatrist a few times. Enough for Ivan to glean that he was not a welcomed individual to his beloved. For a moment, he entertained the thought of letting his Ruh loose on the man. He could feel it tingle under his skin.

He touched Anastasia's hand letting it calm him for the moment.

[Jeremy Derenstein]

Jeremy straightened up. He was ready for opposition; a rally in the middle of Pilot Ridge, the epicenter of meta human activity, was bound to encourage more resistance than, say, any other old town. He was approached by a wealthy looking blonde woman, pretty, who held her head up high. Jeremy adjusted his shirt collar as she spoke.

“What you’re asking isn’t so absurd,” he argued. “We have documented over hundreds of thousands of laws. We’ve a bureaucracy that handles over six million people every year. A system to categorize individuals’ meta-powers is not inconceivable.”

Jeremy noticed he was getting a lot of angry faces pointed at him. Anastasia’s subtle flow of emotion did not quite touch him; he did not feel the anger, only determination, stubbornness. Out in the crowd, however, he found two familiar faces…Joshua Bernstein and Sean Neville.

His lips grew taut.

As Joe came near, Jeremy turned to nod at him. “Sorry boss,” he said, a little jokingly, his expression replaced with a smile. “Don’t mean to steal your thunder. You know how I get.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh gave a terse nod in response to Sean's promise. He didn't, strictly speaking, need this to be made up to him; he would acquiesce because that was what his partner requested of him. And admittedly, keeping quiet was in his own best interest, as well. It certainly wouldn't help his campaign for town council if he started a scene in public, even if his platform was directly contradictory to PUSE's goals.

A scene might, however, give the organization some sympathy, and he certainly couldn't abide that.

He touched Sean's elbow lightly, attempting a smile; it turned out more of a grimace, but it was the best he could do under the circumstances. "A lot of people have turned out for this."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Two could play at that game. Sean held his tongue and did not make any remarks to Joe, entirely because he didn’t want to give the organization any fodder. He could tell, of course, that since their encounter in the grocery store, the younger man had become aware of Sean’s meta-human status as well as his powers (in some fashion). Such was the problem with bigotry. It mattered not how Sean had aided the other man unprompted; all that mattered was that he was meta and thus the enemy.

As such, all he said to the PUSE President was, “I’m sure.” He didn’t even remark that he had no intention of availing himself of the cookies.

With that, he let Joe continue as he was. Sean kept his ear cocked to hear what, precisely, this man would advocate, given the inflammatory and reactionary positions that Jeremy continued to espouse.

To Josh alone, he projected, The problem is that it isn’t inconceivable at all. Rather, it was quite easy to imagine such a system, and the support of those who were afraid, or ignorant, or filled with prejudice. Such a system couldn’t gain traction as a massive Civil Liberties violation, and, if it came to that, Sean was prepared t testify in court or before a congressional hearing.

Of course, the psychiatrist knew that was getting ahead of himself. This was merely a propaganda rally by a small, inconsequential hate group. Albeit one in the middle of Pilot Ridge. At the end of the day, who in the U.S. could even find Vermont on a map, let alone the tiny town that they called home?

With his partner’s remark, Sean nodded. “They have. Most of them are meta.” He was prepared to point out who was whom should Josh ask.

[Anastasia van Drakke]

Her fingers slipping over Ivan's rough knuckles, Anastasia smoothed down the ragged edges of his <frustration> with the <humor> Velantia was emitting. There was a slight twinge behind her eyes as the empath took in what she could to help the crowd keep that unfriendly edge, to cast <doubt>.

Anastasia's eyes stayed directly on Jeremy, and flicking towards Joe as she watched them interact. Did they know who she was? It had been some time since Anastasia had voiced public outcry on the matter of meta-rights, but if they were as serious as they seemed to be, it seemed likely they knew.

"You mean we can all have our own pair of personalised shackles?" she asked, her voice ringing pleasantly, like a speech maker at a wedding. "What about the hundreds of cases of false accusation towards meta humans in America? What of metas being accused and persecuted due to the ignorant prejudice of the frightened?"

Her fingers gripped Ivan's tightly enough for her nails to press hard against his skin as her throat grew tight. "Such laws would be impossible to keep up," she said, flicking her hair over one shoulder with a cool smile. "You're building a house on sand, gentlemen."

[Joe Honnick]

Joe gave a smile to Sean and his partner before departing. Filthy meta humans. As much as Joe hated to admit it Sean was a hard case. Sean had been kind and helpful, but then he had also lied. A lie of omission, but a lie nonetheless. Furthermore he had the same power as that pig who destroyed his daughter. In Joe’s eyes Sean was the enemy and his lie of omission was a statement as loud as any other that he was inclined to let his power work without letting people know he was doing so. Joe’s politician smile didn’t let anything slip on his face but for all he knew Sean was rooting through his mind looking for things to play with. Joe slipped through the crowd and approached Jeremy as the crowd’s mood seemed to take a turn. Sure they weren’t saying things that a lot of people wanted to hear but it was something they had to hear. Whether they agreed or not, who could blame the normal humans for being afraid of these meta humans?

He smiled at Jeremy and gave a little laugh, hoping to cool down a bit of the aggression pointed their way. “Nonsense, Jeremy, you’re doing a wonderful job.” He stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, and lowered his voice so the murmur of the crowd covered what he said to Jeremy, “Let’s tag team this, start an internal debate and engage with questions and ask our own. We’ve got a lot of people nodding but we’ve got a lot of people shaking their heads. Let’s get some more people on our side.” He gave a dazzling smile and turned back to the crowd and his attention was called immediately by Anastasia. He knew who she was, he was working slowly but surely on getting the identification of meta humans in Pilot Ridge and also those who were not meta humans themselves but protected them.

Joe nodded in agreement, “Ms. Van Drakke,” Joe said politely, “I thank you for that but I also want to reemphasize what Jeremy here has said. What PUSE wants is not shackles, only an equality in knowledge. You are absolutely correct there are hundreds of false accusations toward meta humans in America. That is something that PUSE also wants to stop by this categorization. Allow me to ask toward your expertise, Ms. Van Drakke. In the opposite form, what do you propose that we base-line humans do about those meta humans who would do wish us harm? What if I did not know someone was a meta human? And,” he paused just slightly and gave her a raised brow, “what if I, as a baseline human, were not aware that someone were using a power to, for example, manipulate people’s opinions, tell them which way to vote or even tell them how to feel about something?” Joe knew he would hit a nail on the head with that one and possibly cause a little bit of an outcry. Oh well, if she chose to react, let her, that would certain make headlines across the States.

[Sebastian Bolstad]

Sebastian had known he was going to be here before he'd even been given the flyer two weeks ago. He had seen it. Whilst he wasn't entirely sure what the event would be about, he had seen himself on the lawn outside the town hall, bottle of water in hand, listening to people discussing something with a passionate energy. He hadn't been able to make out exactly what the gathering was about, but he had seen a lady with a pony-sized dog, a few of his fellow students and the scary psychiatrist from school. When he had eventually been handed the flyer while he was in town Sebastian had decided he wouldn't go, just to see what would happen if he directly defied one of his visions. But... It seemed like a good cause, on the surface. People should be fighting to be treated equally and fairly, and safety was always a paramount issue in a world as full of abominations as this one. After over a week of indecision. Sebastian had finally decided to go. Five minutes wouldn't hurt, right?

It felt odd to be in a rally-type situation again. It was the first one Sebastian had attended since being shipped away to Hammel, and he pulled his dark grey sweater tighter around him as he stood on the outskirts of the little gathering. A part of him felt very awkward being here without being in the sidelines of his mom and dad's campaigning, but at the same time it also felt comfortingly familiar. He had attended countless rallies when he had still been at home, and even though this one would no doubt be markedly different from the ones he was used to, it was still oddly reassuring to be here.

As the leader person began their speech the blonde teenager listened intently, quietly thanking a lady who handed him a small bottle of water. He politely declined the offered pastry. As the man spoke on, it slowly dawned on Sebastian exactly what was going on here.

These people, this PUSE, were exactly like the people he had been so close to at home! Sure they dressed up their words much nicer, made it sound like the freaks they opposed were real people and should just be regulated and not locked away to stop them being a danger to humanity, but the core message was the same. Meta humans were to be contained and their plague on civilisation ended for the safety of all. Despite the fact that he was now one of those accursed people they were against, that was still a belief that Sebastian very much held. It was a belief he had been raised with his whole life.

A hint of a smile was curling Sebastian's lips as he listened in with more active interest, and whilst he highly doubted he would ever be welcome amongst this group, it was very reassuring to know that even here there were those still actively campaigning against the freaks that could so easily destroy everything that made humanity good and pure.

Himself included.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

The whole situation was mind blowing to say the least. Idalia would have liked to throw her hands up now and give up the whole thing. Go somewhere that might actually appreciate her efforts. It would have given her infinite pleasure to say she wouldn't use her power to help anyone anymore but she couldn't morally do that. Maybe she'd move to where it was more useful. Like Texas or Oklahoma. If PUSE was around she could see the allure of Vermont growing thin. But then her parents were here and she didn't have the funds to leave yet. Partially because she probably didn't have the best spending habits and partially because Ike was a eating machine. She was just glad he'd finally stopped growing. He was almost two now and quite a menace. It at least led people not to mess with her. She shifted uncomfortably with all of the negative emotions barraging her from all sides. She was upset but she didn't know why she cared so much. The leader said something that made her swallow nervously. What if someone was toying with them? Even now?

Idalia shook her head. No, no she was just being paranoid. This man here, PUSE, it was the enemy. It was sick. It was vial. Idalia shook her head. She was out of here. She would not be seen to support this. She turned from the crowd and Ike followed along with her. It was like taking a breath of clear air as she cleared away from the crowd. The emotions dwindled and she listened from afar at the questions delivered into the crowd. She hate this but he had a point. Idalia herself wasn't dangerous. Hell, the worst thing she could do to someone was to not have a vision. It was her duty as a meteorologist to preserve life and property. Even this idiots. She wondered what the people who could do destructive things would think. Or what about those that were healers? Were they sinners as well? Idalia shivered and a kind woman caught sight of it and laughed. The woman handed her a hot chocolate and Idalia smiled and took it. Would this woman be so kind if she knew Idalia was a meta human?

The question didn't sit well with her and so she thanked the woman and moved on. She felt the leash tug a little bit and turned just in time to see Ike snag a cookie off the table. She grabbed him away quickly. "No, no, bad." She said trying to not spill her hot chocolate while also hauling her large dog away from the food. "You're gonna make yourself sick," she scolded, "And whose gonna have to be up all night taking care of you? Yeah, me." She answered herself as Ike looked happily up at her without comprehension. "Let's get outta here." She said and passing through the crowd she stopped suddenly. Ike whined and Idalia smelled lightning. Ike licked her hand and she put it on his head grounding herself in the present.

The area was cleared of all the people and a fresh coat of white covered the ground and all around her fell snow violently blown by the wind. She could feel the sting of the wind and the way it blasted her hair every which way. Her gaze turned skyward and she blinked past the large aggregates that plummeted like stardust. Something moving called her attention and she saw a few people milling about braving the storm for work or something. She blinked and the scene was back and she realized her gaze had stopped on someone and it was probably terribly creepy and so she laughed and turned quickly away. Looked like another winter storm headed their way. The next week was gonna be busy.