Safehouse - Mess Hall

[Mary]

"There's not much else to do...but fight now anyway." She said halfheartedly and slowly moved her finger around in a circle, causing the beer in the glass to swirl.

[Skeiron]

"Fightin's all we ever seem to have time for," he agreed, gruffly. "Retirement's not exactly in sight, either."

[Ronin]

"There's time for a few other things. I recommend making love instead of war." Ronin said in passing. He had obtained his bottle of whiskey from the bar after having dropped off his takings for the day.

"You know, if you know how." He said, sitting down at another table with a dirty tumbler glass and what passed for ice.

[John Hino]

John blinked at the man in the ninja getup.

[Ronin]

Ronin poured himself a far too generous glass of whiskey, though the glass was a bit bigger than necessary to begin with. If he noticed John's look he didn't acknowledge it and simply waited for the ice to melt a bit.

[Robin Stanton]

Not long after that a small robot walks along the bar, consisting mostly out of four legs cobbled together and a glass. It stops next to Ronin's bottle waiting to be filled.

A couple of minutes later Robin walks into the room and sits down next to him.

[Ronin]

Ronin let out a gruff little noise, a stiffled chuckle. He pours a bit of booze into the whiskey walker, tapping it with his own glass.

"Hey there cupcake." He said, the smile only evident in his voice. "You know you're too young to be drinking this stuff. It's against the law."

[Robin Stanton]

"Oh shit, you're right. Better get rid of this fast." she says, downing about half the glass in one go.

[Will Stanton]

Will chuckled a little bit at that.

"As long as she didn't buy it, she should be good. After all, she's accompanied by her father."

[Ronin]

Ronin reached up and messed up Robin's hair a bit playfully.

"Hey, slow down and savor it. This isn't the cheap sludge."

He pulled up the bottom of his mask just over his nose, sipping his whiskey slowly.

"Mmm. Damn, I really, really needed this.

"So, what's the story with these new people?" He asked, glancing at her green-haired companion.

[Robin Stanton]

"Bet you paid a lot for it too." she smirks. "And seriously, you don't recognize Will?"

[Ronin]

"Yeah, I recognize your dad." Ronin said. "I just don't know why he made a copy of himself, or why he's going retro today."

[Will Stanton]

"He can make copies of himself?"

[Robin Stanton]

"Where have you been all day." she chuckles.

"Here, check this out." she adds, leaning over to give Ronin a deep kiss between him sipping his whiskey to provoke a reaction from Will.

[Will Stanton]

Will did a perfect spit-take.

[Ronin]

"I've been out getting enough food and supplies to keep us going for another day. That's where." Ronin said with a hint of a smirk. He leaned into the kiss a bit, even the eyes in his mask seemed to close for it.

"I think I missed that. You'd better show me again."

[Robin Stanton]

"Okay!" she grins and kisses him again, grabbing his butt as well this time.

[John Hino]

John held in a laugh, producing a snort.

"Sorry..."

[Will Stanton]

"Who's kid is that?"

[Ronin]

Ronin let out a bit of a grunt, his tail coiling around Robin's wrist and squeezing it in return.

"Kid? Come on Taliesan, that naive routine doesn't work anymore. Hell we roomed together."

[Will Stanton]

"Simon?!

But...you probably knew her when she was in diapers!"

[Ronin]

"Yeah. So?"

[Will Stanton]

"So, you're old enough to be her father!"

[Ronin]

"Taliesan, come on, we've been over this before." Ronin said, standing up and grabbing Will by the shoulder. It was a strong grip but not a threatening one. "Come on, let's talk." He cocked his head a bit toward the hallway.

[Will Stanton]

"What's going on?" he said, letting Simon drag him away.

[Ronin]

As soon as they were out of eyesight Ronin turned to Will, holding him by both shoulders.

"Look around you man. We live in squaller. I have to crawl through the fucking sewers and steal from people like a fucking criminal just so that maybe, maybe we can live for another day. Our lives are fucking futile. They will find us and when they do there won't be any trials. There won't even bother to arrest us. We will be gunned down like plague-ridden animals.

"Do you see a lot of choices for her? There isn't exactly a plentiful stock of people for her to choose from. She is a young woman brimming with hormones, rebelling against her father and oppressed by the entire world. She has so much hatred, so much anger but still a lot of love in her heart. And I am not going to let this world stomp that out.

"So what would you prefer, we try and keep her chaste? It didn't work for you did it? That will just make her want to rebel against you even more. She'll go do what she wants and she will make mistakes and unlike when we were teens those mistakes will probably result in her dead in a ditch somewhere. Or maybe she can lust after someone new we bring in. Some teen we're trying to ferry off somewhere else where there might be a glimmer of hope. Some little punk who'll assure her that they don't need to use a condom, that he'll take care of her and keep her safe when he can't even look after himself. And even if he could protect her safe havens are few and far between. The best we can usually do is buy them a few weeks and try to get them out but every time it ends the same; another dead mutant or another sobbing body rotting in some cell. We need her. You and I both know that. She is so powerful and we can't survive without her.

"I promised you when she was born that I would protect her no matter what. And if that includes this then so be it. She's a smart girl, you know that. And besides... it was her idea."

[Will Stanton]

"Man....cool it. It was just shocking. I mean, she's not even BORN yet in where I'm from."

[Ronin]

"... what are you high or something?"

[Will Stanton]

"You're REALLY outta the loop. Do we LOOK like the 2040 versions to you? Doesn't John sitting there mean anything?"

[Ronin]

"Taliesan, you have so many versions of you I have to give the doorknobs a gentle tap to make sure I'm not crushing your nuts."

Ronin leaned back a bit, looking through the door.

"... that can't be John. He's dead. He died years ago."

[Will Stanton]

"It is. We're from the past.

And my daughter is still negative two months old."

[Ronin]

"She's not born yet? But that's... what, eighteen years then? We were still in school, on the X-Teams. I don't remember being briefed on you traveling through time."

Ronin paused. "That woman on the observation deck. I thought she looked familiar but I couldn't believe it. Christ, you, er, Taliesan must have shit kittens."

[Will Stanton]

"That, and shot me. Right in the head."

[Ronin]

"Really? That's weird. He usually asks me to do that sort of work."

[Will Stanton]

"..I don't think he likes me.

This may be because he said he doesn't like me."

[Ronin]

"No one likes how they were in the past. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. He can only see the mistakes you made because he knows the results."

[Will Stanton]

"His damn aim is twenty-twenty...and he didn't have a gun.

Then he proceeded to kick my ass all over the place in the...well, I don't know what you call it. That room thing."

[Ronin]

"Ah, I thought you were just a punching bag he made. But you're a punching bag from the past."

[Will Stanton]

"Gee, thanks."

[Ronin]

Ronin gave Will a little shoulder hug. "Hey, buck up. I don't really have a reason for you to, but do it anyway."