Clash of the Masses

[Everyone Else]

((OOC: This occurs the Sunday immediately following the inauguration. Anyone is welcome to join, but the police *will* eventually make an appearance and thus steer clear of death. Fighting and general destruction, however, is to be expected; this is a riot, after all.))

::In the few days since Bridge and Pierce had been inaugurated, there had been fierce public opinion. Bridge's appointments had been confirmed, including Boliver Trask, who had been a member of the previous administration and had been dismissed for his anti-mutant bias. The stock market had boosted marginally on Tuesday, but by Friday, the Dow Jones had lost three hundred points, and people were miserable. The administration was not acting quickly enough in the public eye, despite having only been in office for five days, two of which were a weekend.

Immediately after the inauguration, the Friends of Humanity, a religiously-based anti-mutant group had sent representatives to Washington to plea the "people's case for safety." Likewise, several smaller mutant rights groups had gone down to plea the opposite. Tensions had mounted elsewhere.

Public opinion of mutants had shifted after several mutant attacks in the autumn, and it had only grown worse. Mutants had begun to go underground, back into hiding, while others had become more boastful, a natural reaction to persecution.

In Central Park, it had begun with an effigy in the late afternoon. A small rally had been gathered quickly by some mutant organizers in the City area, with not many participants as it was cold, it was short notice, and people felt it would achieve nothing. The rally itself, as always, had gained protesters. There was shouting, there were insults, and eventually, somebody threw a punch.

Matters had escalated greatly from there, and chaos ensued. The mob mentality set in, with two fervent groups, and spectators were drawn into the crowds for the fight which had begun.::

[Typhoid]

Ty had come down from the University to go to the rally in Central Park, and when things escalated it wasn't long before she was set upon by two men and a woman, all human, but angry and armed.

((And if anyone wants to join me, please come in ))

[Strype]

Strype had heard about the rally in Central Park, and had decided to go. It wasn't long before the protesting got out of hand, shouting on both sides, and people started to throw punches. She was starting to think it hadn't been a good idea to come here at all.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt wasn´t usually the sort of person who felt too comfotable being in public. He had accepted ad was glad about the fact that no one back at the mansion bothered about his blue skin and otherwise unusual appearance, but he had lived years in a way that meant more hiding than showing himself.

And so his mentality remained. He had never been too political a person, but opinions about mutants and the tension within the community and society in general was shifting towards an area that he disliked. Had it been for him, he would have done anything to have pople live together in peace and harmony have them understand hat they were all equal and eqally loved by their creator and he felt sadness at the fact that humanity seemed a long way from that. Part of him wanted to cower and hide at the realisation, another part wanted to reach out and mediate. And it was that part that had made him come here today.

His features hidden under a long trench coat and hat, his tail curled up an hidden away and his hands in his pockets to hide blue skin, he hd strolled up towards the masses, trying to keep an eye on people around him. He was used to hateful glances and knew how to identify him, always on the lookout for the first ones to start their insults. He knew how to escape quickly, yet he began to ask himself why he had come. He kept his eyes low, his face barely visible under his clothes. It was winter and therfore cold. Hopefull no one would give someone in a trench coat too close a look. Only his yellow eyes could give him away.
As he glanced over the people, keeping away from the major throng, he once more wondred whther all of this was necessary.

[Typhoid]

"I'm not here to hurt anybody," Ty said, but her words seemed to fall on deaf ears. One threw a punch, she ducked liked she'd been taught, but didn't retaliate. "I said I'm not here to hurt anyone."

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt had come to stand near a try about two dozen steps away from the mob. His yellow eyes scanning over the area, hands deep in his pockets, he looked around for faces he knew, but none in particular. After a moment, his eyes settled on the figure of a young woman with red hair. He could not recall her name, but knew she was from the institute. They had never talked, but still, he had seen her before. He kept his gaze on her, seeing that there were people closing in on her. He was unsure about what to do. Had he looked less suspicious, he would probably have stepped in, but right now, he was uncertain.

[Typhoid]

Another swing another duck. The crowd was yelling and excited, some fights already in full swing. It wreaked havoc on her sixth sense, the one that heard heartbeats, so she couldn't tell if anyone she knew was any further then a few feet away from her.

[monet]

Monet had decided to come to central park just to see what a mutant rally looked like in person. She had intended to stay some distance away and watch, but the violence had already started when she arrived. She watched in detached irritation at the surging crowds, carefully focusing her eyes and ears to better understand what was going on while keeping at a safe distance.

Suddenly, she picked a familiar voice out of the crowd. She could hear Ty repeatedly assuring someone that she wasn't there to hurt anyone. Monet was conflicted, she didn't want to get involved, but she considered the woman her friend and didn't like the thought of her being in danger. She scanned the large crowd and realized she didn't like the idea of these protesters putting any of these mutants in danger. She paced back and forth, trying to decide whether or not to get involved, and exactly how.

[Husk]

Paige had how mutants were being persecuted, as if all of them were bad. Of course they never knew the other side to why mutants behaved this way. Though, even after all the nasty things that had happened back at home to Paige and her family, she tried to see the better side to humans. Not all of them were cruel. Some were understanding and okay with what others were. Though those types of people seemed to be less and less these days.

Paige had heard about the small gathering in Central Park, and to be honest was glad to hear some mutants were standing up for their rights. However, she knew it would only escalate, these types of events almost always ended in this result. In order to try and protect people, both human and mutants from getting severely injured, Paige had decided to drop by. When she saw the fighting going on, she couldn't help but sigh. Couldn't there ever be a peaceful protest?

Somehow Paige had been spotted by a few people, even when she hadn't tried to draw attention on herself just yet, especially since she had yet to use her powers. "Which side are you on?!" One of them shouted, but Paige just did her best to ignore them for now. Shoulders up, Paige tried to get past them, trying to figure out her exact plan of how to try and stop this fight that was only getting bigger by the minute.

She knew this was a risk, especially since her powers involved her appearance changing drastically. People would obviously know she was a mutant once she did. However, if it meant that it would help stop this stupid act of violence, so be it. Even though she was sure this would only escalate, she would at least try.

Looking up she noticed someone familiar that she hadn't seen in a while, Ty. Some people had ganged up on her, and that made Paige very unhappy. "Idiots." Paige thought to herself sourly before she looked around and then moved forward. "Why dontcha pick on someone your own size?" She questioned them, waiting for one of them to turn around so she could give them a piece of her mind.

[Typhoid]

All three turned, and Ty shook her head from beyond them. "Paige, don't..." The woman lunged for Husk, and the other two men went after Ty. That was the end of her patience, and her body lit green. One of them swung, and she ducked, came back with an uppercut to the jaw, training courtesy of Wolverine.

((Kurty and Monet, if you want to join in, you're more then welcome ))

[Husk]

Paige felt her jaw tighten with anger, a smirk coming to her lips when the turned away from Paige. They just made the mistake of hurting her friend. As the girl moved to attack her, Paige readied herself to fight. Yet to use her powers, she would be fighting without the aid of them, for now. As the girl moved to punch at her, Paige grabbed a hold of her arm and swung her around in the hopes of slamming her into a nearby lamp post. The adrenaline she felt right now felt so good.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt felt torn. What was happening in front of him, just a few steps away, looked awfully familar. He knew what it felt like to be cornered in, even though the situation had never really gotten risky for him, since he was rather fine off with his powers when it came to escaping narrow spots. Still, the hatred in their voices, the aggression in their body language was all the same. It made him sympathise even though it would not have taken that much to make him, it made him want to help, yet he was scared of the crowd. He was remaning unseen or now and guessed noone was really paying him any attention since he stayed away from the buzz and the centre of the riot but if he decided to step in, thiswas about to change. there was only so much blue skin that a coat and hat could hide.

He had just stood there, watching, transfixed, waiting and unsure about what to do, when he called himself selfish for just standing by. This was not the right thing to do. As much as he abhorred violence, he could not let this happen. Whatever motifs these humans might have to act this way. Hesitatingly first, but then forcing himself to take up his courage, he walked towards the crowd, hands still in his pockets. He felt a push when one of he eager rioters shoved past him and cursed something in passing, but all in all the crowd was too fixed on what was going on in the midst of the throng to look up at someone who was seemingy just joining the crowd as he approached. His heart was beating wildly. It had been so long ago since he had dared to walk so freely among humans and he still didn´t know if this was a good idea, but everything inside him spoke against just standing by.

When he was nearly there, things escalated. He flinched, his hands coming out of his pockets in an instinctive way to protect himself. Yells and shouts turned louder around him when things got heated and despite acting up against the woman... no, here seemed to be two involved now, they noticed there was someone else among them who did not match the typical image of a homo sapiens.

[Typhoid]

Ty's uppercut knocked the guy senseless, but not unconscious. In the split second he took to regain his bearing, she knocked him off his feet, just in time to see Paige fling the girl against a lamppost. The woman collapsed, but it wasn't long before three other men joined the fight...and one had a handgun.

Ty made it over to where Paige was standing. "This is going to get worse."

In the distance, she heard an explosion, and realized someone had just thrown something flammable onto a car- a Molotov cocktail, most likely.

[Husk]

Paige let go of the girl as she fell to the floor, stepping back and glancing down briefly at her before looking up as Ty got over to where she was. She spotted the man with the gun as Ty said this was only going to get worse. "I know." Paige said, eyes on him as her heart pounded in her chest. Going on instinct she yanked off her jacket before she began to peel off her skin quickly into metal, the first material she thought of. Her first thought was to go after the man with the handgun, as she was bullet proof right now and she looked to Ty, as if silently getting her permission to do so. Not that she really needed to.

[monet]

Monet watched as things got worse. When she saw the handgun, she knew she had to act. She moved at top speed, cutting through the crowd like a hot knife through butter, carefully dodging between the angry bodies. In an instant, she was in front of the armed man, her hand over his, using her strength to crush both his hand and the gun. "Coward." She spat as she heard bone and metal buckle under her skin. The man's face was twisted in pain and shock. "Freak." He said back to her, his voice weak.