The Morning After

[Mina Ward]

Mina wished they would shut up. Not necessarily the two noise machines on the couch, though they weren't really helping matters. She missed home, missed the quiet the countryside had to offer when she chose to exit the datastream and it felt like her head would split in twain. Los Angeles offered no such sanctuary. The age of wireless was here and only seemed to become more and more integrated into society each passing moment. A blessing to most, a cursing to a very select few; sadly Mina was perhaps one of the foremost of the later. It was like living in a haze, one that accompanied random data bludgeoning the senses and a miserable pounding headache that always came after she forced herself to leave what had become more reality to her than the waking world.

Needless to say it made her quite grumpy. Not quite as grumpy as the fact that something was wrong. The GPS signals on her eldest siblings' cell phones wasn't registering so it had taken some time to find where they had gotten off to. A small clipping regarding a stolen car and many traffic cameras later had found them far ahead of schedule. There had been no side trip to Las Vegas, no random stopping at horrible fast food chains. They were never on-time, never the less early to anything. It was troublesome.

Her footsteps were light, something she was thankful for at times like these but more often than not found to be a twisted reminder of the affliction she suffered from. Her eyes focused upon the television and a small roll of her eyes followed. It was a movement she regretted instantly as the stabbing sensation ripped through the ride side of her skull once more.

She blinked.

The news replaced the cartoons. It was a story Mina was already entirely familiar with but once more the narration was describing a horrible mutant attack at a resort in New Mexico. Details were sketchy - an after effect of someone trying to cover things up. It wasn't exactly the outcome expected but it would do.

[Billy O'Neill]

The unexpected transition from an animated bank heist to the live action depiction of real world villainy caught Billy by surprise; but the distraction it offered was a blessed relief, mainly because it allowed him to do something other than freeze in dumbfounded confusion at the flirty undertone of what Catherine had said. Billy's usual reaction to such things was to stare blankly, and maybe make a few confused zombie noises. Now however be had the opportunity to appear busy, rummaging beneath his legs to see if he'd accidentally sat on the television remote.

He hadn't of course; spotting it sat on the coffee table confirmed that. His eyes were drawn to the only other logical conclusion. His eyes narrowed. "I was watching that," he muttered, scowling at the pint-sized urchin that had apparently decided to crawl out of her nest and grace them with her presence.

Initially, his gut reaction was to whine. Better judgement kicked in however, and while his first impressions with Catherine might not have been spectacular, he was determined to do a tiny bit better with whatever numbered impression they were up to now. "Just because you're Dad's favourite," he said, almost with a hint of defiance, "Doesn't mean you get to ignore social graces whenever you feel like it. Didn't they teach you manners back in England?"

[Mina Ward]

It was a fine mess she was in. Typically Billy's offhanded comments would be met with a look that quite possibly may have been capable of stopping just about anything in its tracks, but it wasn't meant to be today. Instead every word he spoke caused her to wince, cringe slightly as if he were accentuating each syllable with an acupuncture needle.

"It's important." Speech was awful, it left Mina wondering if she'd actually spoken or if Billy's cell phone would be pinging her reply in short order.

It wasn't a lie. Their father had specifically told her to keep an eye on any news coverage that was going to crop up regarding the little incident. Blogs, web pages, youtube, these she had already scoured - now it was time to see what the local coverage thought. Considering Los Angeles' recent attitude towards Mutant Kind, it would be very interesting to see the spin they put on it.

If she could even begin to process it. It would be at least another hour until she was more conscious of the physical. A small sigh left her and she eyed the cable box, setting it to record the program before switching the channel back to whatever drivel Billy was inflicting upon their house guest. Mina just didn't have the strength within her to fight over it, not now. She needed to be more aware by the time their father arrived and antagonizing her brother wasn't going to help that happen any further.

"The others will be arriving soon." Her eyes closed and she swayed on her feet just slightly. Great...now her equilibrium was off as well.