Mutants, Unite Online!

[Freight Train]

Freight Train sat on her bed with her laptop, enjoying the cool sheets and the drone of the box fan sitting in her window after a few hours in the heat playing basketball. At last, the kids she'd grown up with had gotten over their fears of her mutation and realized that she'd never move fast enough on-court to do any serious harm to them, the concrete, or the hoops. She'd had a blast, but nobody in quiet little Eisbury was a mutant. She missed the House. She didn't miss Cullen's, but she missed Taya Robbins. The two emailed back and forth a bit, but Taya was getting busy with her school paper job.

Little Train had taken to sending her emails in all-caps to Taya's school paper email, playing the role of a second-counting skin-flint copy editor who believed the deadline to be a day earlier than it was. It was fun, but Train wanted something...more expansive. She wanted to actually talk about mutantcy. She remembered Banner Laverick, the grumpy girl from Cullen's, had started an online forum for talking about it, back when mutation was like a mark of shame and everybody was trying to keep it down. So, now that mutantcy was starting to get more "air time"...why not try again? After a some quick research and a bit of poking about for Banner's old blog-thing, Freight Train had made one herself. Immediately, she began to hammer out a post for it.

[Freight Train]

MUTANTS, UNITE ONLINE!


This is for mutants to talk about mutant stuff! What your powers are, how awesome they are, how much ass you kick with them, etc. etc.! Talk about mutant laws and boring junk like that, too, if you have to! Be polite, dammit! Don't go bashing other users, or I will MODERATE WITH PREJUDICE! <3, Your Adorable Ass-Kicking Admin.


Posted by TougherThanU @ 2:34pm

[Andrew Murphy]

Howdy howdy,

I'm new to the mutant scene. Just started to find out that I have powers in the last few months. I can go through stuff, like walls. Sometimes stuff goes through me and I don't even know it. I'm no superhero or anything but I've been in some hairy situations and came out without a scratch. Kinda comforting to know but I'm still unsure of how well it works so I've been playing it safe as much as possible.

Edit: BTW, you can call me Shadow.


Posted by UntouchableM @ 11:12 pm
Edited @ 11:17 pm

[Tom Harriman]

Welcome to the scene, Shadow!

I'm Orion - among other things, I'm a scientist (a proper scientist, not the normal internet "oh yeah, I did it for a week in High School, so that makes me a scientist" kind), and I gotta say: going through walls sounds pretty awesome, if a little mind-bending as far as the physics of it goes!

You done much experimenting with it? Testing your limitations? Can you pass through anything, or is it only materials up to a certain density? Can you still breathe when you're out of phase, or do air molecules pass through you as well? Are you able to go up stairs and slopes, or do you stay on the same horizontal surface? What happens when you try to walk down stairs - do you walk in thin air?

Sorry for the questions - scientific curiosity, eh? :)

Welcome to the community anyhow, Shadow. You're not alone anymore.


Posted by RigelIsInMe @ 3:26 pm

[Andrew Murphy]

Heh, thanks for the welcome, Orion.

Science was never really my forte so I'm sorry if my experiments are a bit limited in scope. But after I read your question I did think back a bit to some of the past events. I'll try to answer what I can of your questions in order.

1) I've not honestly experimented. Everything I've done so far has been out of accident until it happened and then I 'experimented' somewhat until I had to get back to work.
2) Given the circumstances that I've found my powers, I'm afraid that if I tested my limits, I might meet an unfortunate end, if you know what I mean.
3) So far I've passed through several inches of steel and whatever else going into an armor vehicle. I've been through fire and only felt a little warm afterwards. I've been shot with no effect. Not even my body armor was affected, and I didn't even feel the wind. In fact, nothing I've ever been wearing has been remotely affected any time I've walked through stuff. I moved behind a rock once and kinda fell into the rock. I was trying to figure out why it was dark until a moment later I pulled my head literally out of the ground.
4) I'm not sure about the air thing part, much less the molecules.
5) I've sunk down into the ground, like above, but I've never had trouble going up stairs or slopes when I've wanted to.
6) I am not a hundred percent positive if I've ever walked on air. I think I did one time but I've never really tried it. But anytime I've intended on going down stairs, I've gone down them.

I know some of this sounds simple, and maybe a bit dumb, :lol but I'm trying.

What about you guys? Orion, TougherThanU? What are your powers? And sorry if its taboo to ask unless someone mentions it first.


Posted by UntouchableM @ 9:09 pm

[Tom Harriman]

By comparison to yours, Shadow, my power isn't much to speak of.

I'm basically a human rail gun. I can make an object I'm touching shoot off at high speed. I can also affect objects that are short distances away from me - knock over a coffee cup on the table; knock a ball that someone has thrown at me off-course - but the strength drops off pretty sharply. I've sort of pushed the ground away before, but I don't know if that was me affecting the ground itself, or if it was me pushing the air around my hand downwards, kinda like a really rubbish helicopter.

Basically, I've got the Force Push part of telekinesis; but I don't have the Force Pull or the Force Choke to go with it. Lame. :\


Posted by RigelIsInMe @ 9.31 pm

[Dahlia Ericsson]

Hey Shadow :) Its not taboo at all, no worries.

I've got a couple of powers, actually. I can turn my skin and hair and whatever I'm wearing to a diamond-hard surface - totally makes me bulletproof and temperature resistant, which is handy. I can also create spikes of the diamond-hard substance and shoot them out at things...oh, and I can actually fly.

Not entirely sure why I hit a bit of a power jackpot, but I can't complain too much.


Posted by AllKindsOfShiny @ 10.11 pm

[Jo Holloway]

Does anyone have the power of giving cats baths? I could seriously use some help over here with my 25 pound monster. With a little luck, though, I guess I'll be okay.

That's a little joke, because I can change the probability of events around me. Okay, so its a very little joke. Unfortunately this has never resulted in an easy cat bathing ritual, maybe its the whole 'black cat/luck' thing working against me. But yeah, so I'm lucky - but its not as cool as you think it is. I can affect myself in a positive manner but there's a 'karma' code hardwired into my powers or something. If I use good luck then at some point I'll get an equal amount of improbable bad luck heaped on me.

I went to Vegas once. Remember the Bellagio fire a few years back? Yeah. Sorry about that.


Posted by roulette1985@ 10.34 pm

[Freight Train]

Roulette! Funny cat bath story!

My powers are that I'm super strong and invincible when I move. Awesome, right!? So when my family's stupid cat needs a bath, my dad makes me put on my bathing suit and grab the cat, hold her over my head, and run her through all the garden sprinklers because I'm the only one she can't scratch to death. Deeeeelightful.



Posted by TougherThanU @ 8:55am

[Kat Harriman]

You do that to your poor kitty?! :(

That's horrible! Just because you have some kind of special power doesn't give you free reign to do whatever you want. Sure, it's only a cat, and it's only a bath, but that's how it starts. The next thing you know you'll be blowing up schools, or breaking into hospitals and electrocuting poor innocent people in their beds who didn't do anything except help the people who needed them. :cry


Posted by BurningHands @ 18.56 pm

[Andrew Murphy]

:lol that's taking it a bit far isn't it? You do kinda feel sorry for the cat in the end. Not being scratched afterwards is a definite plus to being invincible. ;)

So how did you guys find out about your powers? Or better, how do experiment with them without the worry that you might hurt yourself or others in the process? I'm kinda in an intense situation as it is right now but maybe you guys have some tips or hints that might help along the way. I don't want to find out that what I've been doing has some kind of backlash that might be endangering others.

And I'm sorry to hear, roulette, that your power has a backlash like that. :(

Annnnnd being able to fly would pretty much cap it off on the power wish list. How exactly do you fly, Shiny? You just levitate or grow diamond wings or what? Either way sounds nice.

And Orion, can you like stop anything without thinking about it, like a force field or something, or do you have to consciously stop things that come at you, or push them away, however that works?


Posted by UntouchableM @ 8:44 am

[Freight Train]

BAAHAHAHAHA I will be an EVIL MASTERMIND! Seriously, relax, she just gives me that indifferent cat "You're a dumbass" look during and then bawws at us after 'cause she's wet. Snowball weathers all of my little evils with condescension and grumpy disdain. We're like sisters, we grew up together. It's really just the tub she can't stand.

I discovered my powers when high school kids tried to bully me and my buddies off one of the coal basketball courts when I bulldozed one a few yards. Experimentation just happened naturally; I figured out how strong/tough I was by how fast I was going and what I could run into without getting hurt myself. I can't turn it off/on, but meh, I don't know why I would want to.


Posted by TougherThanU @11:22am

[Jo Holloway]

You do that to your poor kitty?! :(

That's horrible! Just because you have some kind of special power doesn't give you free reign to do whatever you want. Sure, it's only a cat, and it's only a bath, but that's how it starts. The next thing you know you'll be blowing up schools, or breaking into hospitals and electrocuting poor innocent people in their beds who didn't do anything except help the people who needed them. :cry
O_o Talk about a slippery slope! If you'd ever tried to bathe a cat you wouldn't feel so soft-hearted about it. I'm just lucky mine is pretty easy going. He's sitting on the floor on a towel right now all damp and licking his tail - the end is the only part he can clean properly the poor fat thing.

Um I found out about my powers by accident. I mean, I guess that's what most people say, but 'probability manipulation' is sort of a nebulous ability. Stuff just started happening to me - awesome stuff! Like this guy I had a crush on asked me to prom, and I was a freshman. And then later that day I stumbled and fell and hit the ground just right and broke my arm in three places.

Just odd stuff. I probably still wouldn't know for sure what was going on except my family doctor ran a blood test on me and screened me for the gene. Once I knew I was a mutant then everything started to click into place.


Posted by roulette1985 @12:03pm

[Dahlia Ericsson]

My powers didn't show up when I hit puberty like most mutant powers. Mine showed up in college. There's nothing quite like having your skin turning into solid diamonds in the middle of a very...inopportune moment. *coughs*

Shadow, I'm not entirely sure how I fly! I just...do? As weird as that sounds :) I think its a form of levitation, though, because I can hover perfectly steady. I can't form anything like wings - cool as that does sound. I do an excellent imitation of a porcupine though!


Posted by AllKindsOfShiny @ 12.18 pm

[Stern]

My powers aren't much on paper. Then I get to work. I used to get called "Glow worm" or "Night Light" in college. Now I'm called "The Light Knight."

As it turns out, when I registered I was rated a 3 on the MRA's little rating chart. I was (oddly enough) pleasantly surprised.

I can't wash cats with my powers, but I do put my powers to extremely good use.


Posted by LightKnight @11:33pm

[Tom Harriman]

Unfortunately, BurningHands, some people are just wired wrong from the start. You don't spontaneously become a psychotic killer - you need to be running the right screwed up version of the brain operating system for that software to take hold. Pretty sure that it isn't just a straight slide from cat hazing to mass murder. :hug

Besides, a quick sprint through the sprinklers is no more cruel than those bows and dresses you used to make Mr Fluffles wear. Or than, for that matter, naming your cat Mr Fluffles. Poor guy must've been a laughing stock around the local neighbourhood - no wonder he was always in a grouchy mood. :uhoh

Shadow - it's definately not forcefields, unfortunately. I've tried to form some kind of repulsor field time and again, but I haven't had much luck. It's definately a concentration each time deal, and there seems to be some Newton's Second Law going on in there as well: the faster something is moving towards me, the harder it is to stop. If my reflexes are up to it - and they aren't always - I can deflect a bullet; but I am most definately not the one.


Posted by RigelIsInMe @ 8.35 pm

[Andrew Murphy]

Wait, so we get rated for our powers? How does that work? I'm sure its not something like stepping up to a machine and seeing how hard we can swing the hammer?

I'm guessing Light Knight that you can manipulate light somehow? How does that translate into a 3?

And do most people actually realize or whatever their powers at puberty? I'm 24 and just started to figure out mine. :lol Must be a late bloomer, how embarrassing...


Posted by UntouchableM @ 10:59 pm

[Taya Robbins]

Oh my gosh, it's American Girl's Blog all over again! This is so cool! But what's all this about cat abuse? :cat

So, hi, everybody! I'm RL friends with TougherThanU, who invited me to post here. I'd tell you not to believe the macho act, but unfortunately it's true - Tough can smash you like a bug on the windshield of a diesel train. But I've still got blackmail photos of her in an adorable prom dress. :D

Okay, okay, before I get smashed: I've got what's known as a systemic morphological mutation, which means I never have trouble standing out in a crowd. Long story short, my body changed over the course of a year and a half from a pretty normal, scrawny teenage girl to some kind of cat-human hybrid. I have the ears, the eyes, the muzzle, paws, claws, tail, and fur, pretty much the whole works. No, I don't consider myself a furry, and, yes, I've heard all the jokes.

It's really a different sort of thing from a lot of you, because I don't have any powers to practice with and I don't have to worry about breaking people's bones or blowing up my house, but my mutation is always staring me in the face every time I look into a mirror, and it's always the first thing people see whenever they look at me. I get a lot of stares, a lot of double-takes, a lot of stammering. It's really funny how people react - sometimes they try to pretend not to notice! Can you imagine anything more hilarious?

But you know what? I'm okay with that. It's the ultimate icebreaker, and once people see that I'm comfortable with who I am, they start feeling more comfortable, too. That's the thing about being a physical mutant - it's always out there in the open, so you have to be honest with yourself and with other people. So on one hand I never get a break from it, but on the other hand I've never had to deal with the angst of wondering what will happen when people find out. Hey, I'm a human-shaped cat, so deal with it!

I won't pretend it's been easy, and I owe a whole lot to my very supportive parents and my awesome friends. Still, I think my mutation has helped me work through some body image issues I had even before I started growing fur. That's part of what mutation does - it makes you look at your identity in ways you maybe never even considered before. It's strange and it's scary and exciting and unpredictable, but above all, it's a journey, and it's one we're taking together. :)

So hang in there, fellow freaks of the blogosphere! Whether you're flying, fiery, or just plain furry, you're not alone!


Posted by CaliforniaGrrl @ 12:45 am

[Freight Train]

But I've still got blackmail photos of her in an adorable prom dress. :D





:verymad KIT KAT I WILL BREAK A PIECE OFF YOU IF YOU POST THOSE PICS :verymad

but if you could e-mail me copies for my mom that'd be great


According to them world-wide internets, the mutant ratings are a baseline estimate of how dangerous a mutant's powers are. It's part of California's Mutant Registration state legislature. Yes, I read the news sometimes. I can't read the news sometimes!?

That magnetic terrorist from New York got slapped with a 5 because mutant crime and locked in the slammer there in L.A., or something. I bet I'd rate a 4! Once I got going I could tear up everything! :evil But I can't say I want to cause tons of property or people damage. Mutant fights are actually pretty scary.



Posted by TougherThanU @11:22am

[Stern]

The ratings aren't set in stone, but they base it on the "scope" of your powers.

A rating of a 1 means your powers only really affect you: CaliforniaGrrl sounds like she might rate a 1, since her mutation changed her appearance. At first, when I first acquired my mutation, I only really glowed with light. I was not inherently dangerous.

CaliforniaGrrl might rate a 2 depending on whether or not her mutation offers her strength and agility above and beyond the normal human level.

Rating 3 means you can be a threat if you need to be. Since my mutation evolved and has now given me the power of light-speed travel, I can be anywhere, anytime as long as light can reach it. I can be dangerous, but I'm a good guy.

Rating 4 means you're a big threat. Your powers are inherently destructive and if they're not used with a good deal of restraint, collateral damage is assured. If you can level a city block with relative ease, you're probably a 4.

If you use your powers to commit crimes, you're a 4.

If you use your powers like The Brotherhood and other mutant terrorist organizations to subjugate non-mutants, you're a 5.

If you are a 4 or a 5, you better not let me know. I will see you locked up.

And yes, my powers involve manipulating light. :)

Posted by LightKnight @2:02pm

[Taya Robbins]

I wouldn't try to use the rating system as a way to keep score. I mean, I can understand the reasoning behind it, but it's really messed up if you think about it. Maybe I'm a 1, maybe I'm a 2 because I have scary claws... but what about a non-mutant person who's a sixth-degree black belt, or somebody who carries a concealed handgun? Chances are they're more dangerous than me! Not that I think we should start tagging people who study martial arts or who have legal carry permits, but I don't know that we should be tagging mutants either!

Look at it another way. I know a woman who runs a nonprofit home for mutant kids. Sweetest, most caring person you could ever meet. But because she can shoot ice beams out of her hands, that means she's either a 2 or a 3. So basically, because they also add points if you've got a criminal record, this wonderful, selfless woman who's essentially a house mom for underprivileged teens could get the same rating as a "nonthreatening" mutant who straight up murders people.

LightKnight, sounds like you're in law enforcement or at least the legal system... would you care to comment on that? It just doesn't seem right at all.


Posted by CaliforniaGrrl @ 2:42 pm

[Alex Kaine]

Oh my gosh don't even get me started about mutant threat ratings. Oh wait, too late.

The big problem isn't the way the scale works. It's that we have a scale at all. Okay, maybe, maybe I could understand if the scale only applied to criminals, but at that point just put the details in the police report. What the California government is saying by giving every mutant a threat rating is that it considers every mutant a threat. Even if you've never had so much as a parking ticket, you're on the scale because some dumbass in the California legislature thought the most important thing to know about every mutant is how much firepower it'd take to bring them down. Talk about a regime of fear.

Heck with kung fu masters and wannabe desperadoes. There are thousands of assholes on the 101 every day who are way more dangerous than any mutant I know. Traffic fatalities in California last year? 3974. Mutant-related fatalities? 18, and that includes five mutants who committed suicide because of persecution borne out of fear-mongering bullshit like this.

So where does that opinion put me on the panic scale, Mr. LightKnight?


Posted by SonOfThunder @ 3:19 pm

[Svetlana Ustinov]

At about a 4, for the sheer sharpness of your tongue and your frequent inability to censor it, handsome. *grins* Or need I remind you of the way you reacted when you met my dad?


Posted by IBleedGreen @ 3:28 pm

[Freight Train]

Relax, Thunderboy. If Knight is who I think he is, he's the LAST person you need to be venting your spleen at. I mean, I see your point about leaving the scale on police reports and out of the public stream, but...y'know...too late, now. Personally, I like the idea of rating high (not like, criminal high, but powerful high). If I made 3 or 4 (not criminal 4) how many of these hate-monger people do you think would really mess with me? For some mutants, a big number is safety from the anti-mutant rabble, even if they wouldn't actually use their powers to hurt someone.

In forum news, I'm thinking of looking at how to add dates to the time-stamp. All the a.m. p.m. back-and-forth is making it look like some of us are from the future/past. o.O

EDIT: :lol 4/20.


Posted by TougherThanU @4:20am

[Stern]

SonofThunder, your anger at the MRA mutant rating scale doesn't put you anywhere on the list. Just don't demonstrate your displeasure by bombing the capitol of California, and we'll be set.

Also, CaliforniaGrrl, I am in fact law enforcement.

If you guys have more questions about the Mutant Registration Act, your rights, or concerns you have, feel free to talk about them and ask questions. I promise not to play censor or cop on here: I only post off-duty. :) I'm more for protecting mutants and their rights than putting them behind bars.

Posted by TheLightKnight @11:03PM

[Tom Harriman]

While there isn't necessarily "tagging" for people who are martial arts experts, CaliforniaGrrl, there are licences and registrations for them. My martial arts licence counts as membership of an international organisation, and provides up to $1 million of health insurance for myself or anyone who gets injured if and when I use my trained skills.

It also includes a disclaimer of when use of my skills is authorised: "In officially sanctioned training sessions, or in the defense of law and order." I had a friend once who was one of the top five Tai-Qwon-Do practitioners in the country: when someone jumped her in an alley and she used her training to subdue him, things went much more smoothly with the police, because they knew what she was capable of; and they knew she could do what she did without it being a side effect of excessive force.

While yes, I chose to learn the skills that I have, they are now as much a part of me as my mutant ability. The police or the government aren't going to take my martial arts skills away if I misuse them; they can't delete that knowledge from my brain. But if I use my skills and someone gets hurt, it makes life easier for the police, easier for the emergency services, and easier for insurance companies. If I break a guy's arm because of a block I made out of sheer reflex, being open and honest about my skills helps to ensure that I'm judged appropriately and fairly for my actions.

I registered as a mutant for exactly the same reason.


Posted by RigelIsInMe @ 11.33 pm

[Freight Train]

Oh, not to rub it in but BAHAHAHAHAHA OHIO HAS NO REGISTRATION LAW


Posted by TougherThanU @ 8:48 am

[Tradeskill]

Right, so...is it me, or does all the really big mutant stuff happen in and around L.A. or NYC? You never hear about mutant "riots" in ATL or a fledgling mutant accidentally burning down parts of Chicago with freshly manifested powers. Why do you suppose that is?


Posted by TheLadyCanCook @ 3:55 am

[Terrus Vall]

Hello folks, im new to the mutant world. My nick name is Solarn i have the power to manipulate solar energy into a deadly force.

[Stern]

I think you might be right, CanCook. It's probably only because of the sheer number of people. The odds of things happening in densely populated areas is just higher. Though I do think it would have been rather amusing to see societal unrest and the quest for mutant rights happen somewhere like Topeka, Kansas.

I've been very busy lately, so the internet has been a rare luxury. Between all the incidents I've been working and trying to make sure I get quality time with my wife, finding room to eat and sleep has been a challenge as it is.


Posted by LightKnight @ 8:02am

[Freight Train]

It's been over a week! POST SOMETHING YOU CONFOUND-ITS! :verymad


Posted by TougherThanU @ 10:33 am

[Stern]

Sorry, I had to step out to fight crime. Crime doesn't know it yet, but I'm winning.

Oh, and just because you have destructive powers, does not mean you should use them on whatever person, place, or thing you want.

Mutants may only make up 1-3% of the population, but they are involved in enough crimes to ensure I only get 4 hours of sleep a night. It's making me cranky.

Posted by LightKnight @ 10:16pm

[Andrew Crest]

Mutants may only make up 1-3% of the population, but they are involved in enough crimes to ensure I only get 4 hours of sleep a night. It's making me cranky.

Ugh, tell me about it dude. I run security at a night club in San Fran, we get trouble from both the normals and muties, but muties tend to be the biggest issue. Humans are more a pain in the ass to deal with, but don't do as much collateral damage when drunk and pissed.

Anywho, yo all. You can call me Slug. Think Cali has labeled me as a Class IV, but I don't really pay attention to politics. I can manipulate kinetic energy of inanimate objects, haven't really test limits yet. Not sure if I want to.


Posted by Slug @ 3:44:am