The X-Project

Hope observes Garrulous and Scanner at work.

Dark wood, leather and the expected books, degrees and photos. Those were Hope's first impression when 'poked' her head down from the ceiling, the rest of her astral form still hidden in the concrete support beam. A small shock ran through her when she recognized Scanner and Garrulous, both meticulously dressed in business clothes.

The ceiling didn't offer the best way to overhear them though, so she made her way to the floor to ceiling closet and used that to hide herself as she sank down and 'swam' through the floor till her head peeked up under the desk.

"Gentlemen, Lady," Delegate Hooper rose from his seat behind the desk and held out his hand to his guests, "So nice of y'all to come in and see me today," he drawled gesturing to the chairs opposite the desk. "So how can I help the Tanner Society today? Oh," he gestured to one of his aides, "Nancy, can we get y'all something to drink?"

"For children," the impeccably dressed male half of the Tanner group commented in a honey-sweet voice, "It is important to always remember the children." He smiled thinly, and there was little enough charm in his expression, but Gabriel Forrest had never needed to rely on his acting ability to make an impact. He raised a hand, adjusting his glasses, and shifted his smile to Nancy.

"Nancy, darling, I want you leave and make sure that no one tries to pry into our heart to heart with the esteemed Delegate Hooper. It would be a shame if people were snooping."

"Thank you kindly, Nancy!" Sarah Ryall made no effort at Southern drawl or charm, relying instead on her smile and a sweet lilt in her voice to convey pleasantness. She watched, her eyes cold as the woman left the room, shutting the door behind her. As she turned back to the delegate, her eyes met her protégé’s briefly, exchanging a glance for a quick second. Then she restored her focus to the task at hand.

"Well, Delegate Hooper, thank you so much for making the time." She smiled again as she took a seat, settling into a chair closer to the politician. "You know how concerned we are about the children of this great commonwealth, and that we'd do whatever it takes to ensure the continued success of The Old Dominion."

"Well yes," Hooper harrumphed, "the Children are very important of course. But what specifically do you plan to do about it? There is so much we can do to help them, if there was enough money that is."

"Well, and heaven forbid, we raise taxes, right?" Sarah chuckled, doing her best to convey warmth and familiarity to sound insincere. Not that it mattered. All she had to do was queue this conversation up, and let Gabriel take it home. And politicians were easy. She could sense from the way Hooper was looking at her that all he saw was a pretty face and a nice pair of legs. That would help.  "No, no, we just want to speak about three important votes that you have coming up this session."

Gabe continued to smile, his voice all generosity and concern. "I believe you know of the bills the good, trustworthy Ms. Ryall means, Delegate. We face an unprecedented time for our nation, and Virginia is poised in a unique situation to safeguard its most vulnerable treasures against threat. We are friends of your office, Mr. Hooper, and want to see you succeed, but you must pay very close attention to every word I say."

He cleared his threat, letting a beat pass. Was there a ring to his voice? Surely not.

"The mutant threat looms over our children's future, Delegate. We're here to convince you to vote yes in the General Assembly this upcoming week on the issue of Mutant Heath Reform and Advantage. There's a precedent to be set here: while bigger issues like how severely to punishing the use of mutant abilities to commit a crime is just the starting point, we urge to consider that having the X-gene is something we need to ensure is not used as an excuse for welfare and worker's comp.No mutant should be able to take unfair advantage of their financial aid in a state school. The precedent you must set is that Virginia is not afraid of mutants and that mutancy should not cost taxpayers money."

Another beat, another smile. His words had taken on almost a sing-song at the end, reverberating with a growing power that gained strength with each syllable.

"While I know that you already have similar opinions, Delegate Hooper, I know that you will stand with us. Do you understand me?"

"Well yes,  I mean to help the children that's important. We don't want any unfair advantages but," the delegate blinked and tilted his head at his guests.  "Is it right? I mean, they tried that before and it didn't work. I don't want to fall into that trap."

Hope frowned at Garrulous his words and Hooper's reaction. He kinda seemed to be fighting the influence, but Gabe was being far more direct in her words then she had expected. Still, she had to wait to see he would try now...

"The world has changed, sir." The smile stayed on her face, but her eyes hardened. "We know more than ever how dangerous the mutant threat can be — I don't need to remind you what happened last year. If we let these people — these things, if they take advantage of us, of our tax dollars, of our generosity. Well..."

Gabe only kept smiling.

"The only trap the past holds, Delegate, is when we refuse to learn from it. Previous laws have been on the national level and far too heavy-handed — imagine the power that the states could, and should, wield to protect their citizens and make sure that mutancy is never used as an excuse or taken advantage of. Virginia can be a shining example for the rest of the nation, sir, and who better than you to shepherd this change through? I know that you agree."


The delegate leaned back and stroked his thing thoughtfully, "You make a good point. Especially if there is a risk of another event like M-Day. It would be criminal for us to risk our citizens like that, I don't know if we can survive another blow like that. And the loss we would incur..." the delegate's voice trailed off as he considered the political opportunity. "Do you have any numbers for me?"

"Well, of course." Sarah leaned to her right slightly and picked up the leather tote she'd brought with her. Her shoulders relaxed slightly as she pulled out a portfolio. She'd seen Gabriel's work enough to know when he'd managed to worm his way into someone's brain; now it was a matter of using a few carefully selected facts and figures to seal the deal.

"You'll see the information is very convincing." Sarah's eyes met Gabe's as she stood to hand the data to the delegate, and for a second, her smile became a bit more genuine. Than she turned and slid a folder of papers across the desk.

Hope watched as the Delegate picked up the folder and perused it with great interest, Garrulous leaning over to point out several graphs and sets of numbers. When everybody rose up to leave, she sank back into the floor.

She had seen and heard enough.