xp_logs | Red X Dangerous Load: Jay & John [backdated]

Jay tries to help a passenger and John steps in. A mild unpleasant disagreement ensues.

Crawling up the side of a cart, Jay's hand hooked on the edge of the window and he pulled himself up to look down inside. There was one girl standing up, trying to climb up to the window and glanced up at Jay, hesitating. He offered no greeting and there was an edge to his look until he offered her a blue hand, waiting for her to comply. Instead of taking his hand, typically, she recoiled from him, if only unsure if he was a good mutant.

His eyes hardened and he offered it again, annoyed that this was even occuring. She backed up from him again and he frowned, pulling out of the window and sliding down the cart. A second after his feet touched the ground, Jay's wings emerged and with obvious aggitation and aggression, the points of his wings pierced through the metal, cutting it open like a can opener.

The loud noise and the girl's scream caught John's attention. Running toward the source of the noise, he came to an immediate halt when he spotted Jay with the girl. "Everything okay here?"

Truth be told John had been slightly apprehensive about Jay being here and that he'd been allowed to be part of the rescue mission. Who knew if the guy was fit for duty just yet? He sure as hell didn't.

Offering his hand to the girl, John helped her out of the cart. "Don't worry," he said. "We'll get you to safety."

Jay's wings swung back in an arch, drawing away, though it looked as though he was posed for an attack. We're fine he wanted to snap, but his expression and the girl's hurry to get out and away from Jay said that everything was not fine.

"Ah had it John," he said, annoyed that John had come in to 'save the day'. "Seriously, Ah had it."

Ignoring Jay for the moment, John guided the girl toward the nearest paramedic before he headed back to where Jay was. "What do you want? An accolade? A pat on the back?" He eyed Jay's wings and then glanced away. "Maybe not," he muttered.

"What the hell does that mean?" He frowned and shoved John, wings bristling with climbing aggitation. Why the hell was everyone on him today?

It took quite a bit of willpower to ignore the urge to push back but John did. Stepping away from Jay, he picked up a bloodied jacket on the floor and looked through the pockets, smirking when he found a packet of cigarettes in it. "Look, you've been taking things way too personally ever since that shit happened to you. You need to stop." He jumped out of the cart and headed toward the next one.

Jay's frown deepened and he had another urge to shove John, watch him trip and fall. A mental image of his wings piercing through John's flesh filtered into his thoughts, but he quickly brushed it aside, vaguely wondering if these thoughts would ever lift. They were disturbing enough, too disturbing especially on a RedX mission where he was suppose to be helping people, not toying with the ideas of making kabob victims. He didn't need anyone knowing that he still had these thoughts and what worse, he didn't need them to give him a look the way John had. He followed, drawing his posture back but couldn't think of anything to say to John that wasn't snippy. He was still aggrivated that John felt he had to step in at all.

The entire place was a chaotic mess. They'd already spent hours helping survivors out of the wreckage. What was left right now was to do a double check and to help clear up some of the mess. John's idea of cleaning up consisted of looking for valuables. Most of which he'd hand over to the authorities of course. But who would miss a half empty pack of cigarettes? Or a lighter? Or hell, a few dollars? No one.

John continued to pilfer.

"John," Jay started, though it came out far more hostile than he meant. "You gonna stop stealin' people's shit and actually be useful? Thought you was an Xman or somethin'. Guess it's just a name huh?" It didn't help that they had a hard time with people but John just had to re-enforce the bad name for them.

"We've spent the past, what? Four, five hours doing search and rescue?" He poked his head into one wreckage after another. "Don't you think I deserve a little me time?" He reached for a bag that was on the ground and tugged at it. The damn thing didn't budge; the strap seemed to be stuck under the wheel. "Besides, I'm not part of the X-Men." He tugged at it again and then got down on his knees to look underneath the passenger car. He unhooked the strap from where it was stuck and took hold of the bag. "See? People are going to be looking for their belongings later. I'm doing them a favor."

"You're stealin'," Jay said flatly and came up behind him, taking the bag and pulling it from John's hands. "Stop it. No one likes their shit missin'." Least of all, him. "It's bad enough we gotta be policin' other people, we gotta do it to our own now?"

The only response Jay got from John was a shake of his head. "Come on. Let's head back and meet up with the rest of the team. See what else needs to be done. Plus, I'm done babysitting you for the day."

"Aw you know what?" Jay bit back, not wanting an answer. "Screw off." Instead, he tossed the bag back at John's chest and turned around, heading for the front of the train.

John snickered, flipped him off and headed off in the other direction, disposing the bag once he'd taken what he could from it. "Don't be mutilating anyone while I'm gone, Guthrie," he called out before turning the corner and disappearing around the wreckage of another passenger car.