2013.10.20 - Frosty Feathers

"Hey, Warren! I'm here!"

Bobby Drake, dressed casually and shaking off his icy armor, grins as he waits for his friend to open a balcony door. He'd called earlier to say he was coming over and bringing booze and unhealthy food. Which would be why he's got some beer and cupcakes in hand. He said he wanted to hang out and talk with Warren about things and now he's arrived and waiting to be let in.

Warren Worthington was actually on his way home when Bobby called, and he pretty much just got in when Bobby landed on the balcony. Still dressed in his suit from work and still on the phone, he drops his keys down on a table before going over to the doors to the balcony and opening them up. "No, that's not what I said. No, we have the permit, so you need to follow the plans. Look, that's not the point!" A hand lifts to wave at Bobby before he grimaces, gesturing to the phone. "It's a Green building. You have to use recycled stuff or sustainable. The point isn't to do it -cheaply-. The point is to do it -right-."

The conversation continues as he disappears into the bedroom briefly. When he re-emerges, he is without his phone and without his jacket and tie and with his shirt unbuttoned. "Sorry about that."

Bobby arches a brow when Warren lets him in. The conversation gets a curious look but Bobby stays quiet for the time being. When Warren vanishes into the other room, Bobby heads for the kitchen with a roll of the eyes at whoever's on the other end of the line. Setting the cupcake box down, he snags one for himself before returning to the other room to wait for Warren. "Not your fault."

"No, it's not. The problem with dealing with some of these people is that they work all the time." Like he's one to talk. Pulling up a seat, he sort of flops into it...as much as his wings allow him to flop, "So, to what do I owe this visit? It's been a while, huh?"

"Awhile? You just saw me at your rally," Bobby teases. He grabs a seat for himself and leans back. "Well aside from the fact that there's a game on tonight I thought we could catch, I wanted to talk to you about a few things."

"All right, let me amend that. It's been a while since you've come here for a visit." Blue eyes blink slowly at the other, "A game? What game?" He looks to the television, which is currently off, "I can turn it on if you want. I don't really watch sports all too often..." but for the sake of being social, he can deal with it. There's a brief shift in his expression and his voice might be just a little flat, "What sort of things?"

"Pretty sure it's football and I don't either but c'mon, man," Bobby grins. "We all used to crowd around the TV back at the mansion and watch for the experience more than the game itself," he explains as if it's perfectly logical. The flat tone gets Bobby rolling his eyes and giving Warren a look. "Well for one...you know anything about Emma Frost and that school of hers?"

"Back at the school," Warren offers before he gets up and goes over to his bar. He's going to need something with alcohol for this conversation, it seems. "Back at school, we were all forced together and forced to be friends. Most, it seemed, wanted to sever that as soon as possible." He pours himself some scotch, "You want anything?" is asked before he answers, "Who's Emma Frost?"

"Dude, no one forced us to be friends," Bobby scowls. "Believe me..." he trails off. He had enough issues with lonliness and not feeling like he fit in back then anyway. Shaking it off, he nods. "Sure, I'll have a glass of whatever you're having," he says. "Wait, you don't know her? Huh...well, she's in charge of Frost Industries and the Academy of Tomorrow. Private school with lots of students like us there..." he trails off, making a few snowflakes to demonstrate what he means by 'like us'.

Warren Worthington pours a second scotch and brings it over, "Well, some of us, it seems. Some just wanted any friends." He takes a sip from his own glass to hide a sigh there before he sits back down. "I've heard of Frost Industries...haven't heard of the school. Really? Another one? I guess the Professor can't really take in -all- the mutant kids, especially now as so many are coming out of the woodwork. Is it related to Genosha in any way?"

Bobby just gives Warre a tired look at that comment but accepts the scotch with a nod of thanks. His glass quickly frosts over in his grip and he takes a sip. "Not just mutants. Metas, aliens, magic, kids making robot suits," Bobby gestures vaguely. "I thought it might be when I heard abut the place. She says they're not and that there's some kind of field protecting the school from anyone with their undies in a twist over Genosha too," he explains. Another swig of his drink and he sighs. "She offered me a job."

Warren Worthington points out, "Uhm. It's not supposed to be super cold..." scotch. Lightly iced, if anything...although Warren prefers it straight. "Well, I don't know all that much besides the name of the company, so sounds like she does a decent job at keeping under the radar, if that's what you want." He takes another sip, "Are you going to take the job?"

"That's why I only chilled it a little, man," Bobby replies with a knowing grin. "I'm the Iceman, I know what I'm doing with ice," he chuckles. He takes a deep breath before he answers. "I don't know," he replies honestly. "I want to help out powered kids...and I do need a job...but I'm not sure if the place is on the up and up and isn't some kind of trap to get powered people..."

A blonde eyebrow lifts, "You're not working at the Institute? Why not? I mean, they'd be really lucky to have you there. They'd be lucky to have you at the other place too, but...I don't know. 'The Academy of Tomorrow' kind of sounds like a Disneyworld ride." Warren does smirk some at that, finally.

Bobby looks at Warren in surprise. "Seriously, dude?" he asks. "I ditched the school awhile ago. I thought you knew. I've been living over with the Fantastic Four since. And yeah...I thought so too. The place is all shiny and chrome like one too."

Warren Worthington just looks right back at Bobby, "If you didn't tell me, how was I to know? I don't go there...they don't really seem to know what to do with me there aside from the fact that I'd be a 'figurehead'. I don't think they understood the whole 'I don't have a teaching certificate...nor do I want to teach' aspect."

That gets a sigh out of Bobby and he takes another drink. "I heard a few from the school have been coming to see you and figured they might have mentioned it. And the way Logan acted when I told him I left and you weren't around either I thought he might come talk with you," he sighs. "Whatever, doesn't matter. I left there..."

Warren Worthington blinks, "Ororo called me to the school to talk. I don't think she quite understood that I didn't feel like I belonged there anymore. I also don't think she understood that I'm not a teacher. Doug and Betsy talked to me about putting together the Rally...nothing really to do with the school. I haven't seen Logan in months."

Bobby Drake frowns. "Huh. Weird. He showed up at the Baxter Building and seemed ready to tear the place apart for a couple minutes..." he trails off. Shaking his head, he shrugs. "Well, speaking of that rally...what I said about providing a little Superheroic facetime, I'm still game. I've been doing the solo hero thing out there and spreading some good mutant word out there. If you want a charming grin to slap on a poster or two, I can lend some Iceman time."

"I'm told that he's been talking to others. It's not lost on me on what it means when he seems completely uninterested in speaking with me. It just solidifies my understanding that they just don't want me there. I wish others would get that through their heads too and stop making excuses for him." Warren shrugs, his wings resting on the clean, bare floor, "Thanks for the offer...I don't really know what to do next. I mean...we did the rally. We got people to see the position. I don't really know any other way to push it besides just living it."

"Dude, it's Wolverine. It's not excuses, it's trying to figure out him not being able to," Bobby shrugs. Eyebrows arch up though. "Don't know what to do next? Dude, keep the message up. Get on TV, get some stuff out on the net, keep the message fresh and out there and don't let it just fade by the wayside to whatever thing ol' buckethead does next."

"Nice, try, Bobby, but I think he just doesn't want to deal with me for some reason. I barely know the guy." There's another sigh before Warren takes another drink from his glass, "I'm not a Marketing guy. I'm not a politician. I have a call out to the Daily Planet, but I don't want to be an Evangelist. It's...it's bad enough that I look like I do, I don't want to exploit people into believing something merely because I say it...I want them to truly believe it too."

"I barely know him too and he still came all claws and bub at me," Bobby shrugs. "Don't be a damn evangelist though. And don't focus on the wings. Use the charming good looks of yours and that call to the Daily Planet to just keep it up. You got on stage on talked once, just do it more. Hell, hire a marketing dude if that's a big thing."

Warren Worthington just gives a roll of his eyes, "I'm not out to bring Magneto down. I pretty much did the rally because Doug and Betsy asked. I just...I don't know. What I did on that stage was evangelizing, Bobby. It was pitching my point of view as the 'right' one. I'm not saying I'm any sort of Savior, but...I just don't know. I'm half tempted to just find a cave in Timbuktu and hole up there for the rest of my life at this point."

Bobby stops mid-way to taking another drink. He gives Warren a look and lets out another sigh. "Why did you do it when they asked?"

Warren Worthington shrugs, "They seemed really eager about it and I thought that maybe it would feel right. Like something that fit that I should be doing and focusing my time and energy on. So I figured I'd try it."

"And you didn't like it?" Bobby asks, quirking a brow. "How did it feel to do it?"

"I don't know. It was...nerve-wracking, it was...interesting. I kind of felt like a fake at times...that I really shouldn't be up there, preaching what's just obvious to me. What's right. And then the people who were arguing..." Warren shakes his head, "I just wanted to smack them upside their heads for being idiots."

"Should have let me do it," Bobby replies with a little joking smirk. "But what's the harm in giving it another shot then?" he asks. "Somewhere a little more controlled where idiots like that won't pop up and cause trouble again. Just to see how it goes?"

"I already said that I have a call into the Daily Planet," Warren points out. "I don't want to look like I'm just searching out attention. That I'm forcing my way into a spotlight. I think it's one thing to figure out some sort of legitimate way of doing this, but just plastering posters or making television spots is just...begging for attention in my eyes."

"Don't force your way but the spotlight can't land on you on it's own if you're not on the stage in the first place," Bobby points out. "And if your worried about attention coming to you, don't put your face on the posters. Just put the message out there like the idiots have theirs," he shrugs. "Might be butcherin' the quote but...all it takes for evil to win is for the good guys to do nothing."

"But is Genosha really evil? I think it's...misguided and I think that there will be a lot of political issues coming from them. Also, with so many mutants living there...possibly guarding there...well, every Military wants Super-soldiers, don't they?" Warren gets up to go pour himself some more scotch and he brings the carafe over in case Bobby wants more, "I'm just not sure that pitching 'Everyone should get along' is really going to do much. It's not a really strong emotion when you have the extremes of 'Mutants should rule over Humans' and then 'Humans should destroy Mutants', you know?"

"Genosha? Not really. Magneto and the dumbasses building giant killer robots and the ones like those idiots who were being pains in our asses at the rally? Close enough," Bobby replies. "And you won't know if it's strong enough until you get out there and say it. It doesn't need to be strong to be right but sitting silent while that other crap goes on isn't the way to go."

Warren Worthington starts in on his second glass, "But it doesn't do much good if I'm the only one saying it. I know that I'm not, but...I just don't know. I feel...I just don't know. I'm trying, but I don't know if this is something I want to throw myself into, heart and soul. Maybe if...maybe if it wasn't something that I'm already seeing. People are living just fine with Mutants now."

"For fuck's sake, War," Bobby actually raises his voice. "If you don't know, get the hell out there and find out," he says. "And you damn well better know you're not the only one saying it. I'm out there saying it too. One voice might not be much on it's own but we need to do the chorus thing. Join together and all that," he downs the rest of his drink. "And what world are you living in then? People living fine with mutants? Did you forget the Sentinels out there? The mutant kids out there getting tossed out or worse by parents and family the day they start setting fires with a snap or growing gills or something? People are not living just fine with mutants just because you aren't seeing death mobs in the streets. And with people like Magneto out there it's only a matter of time before he starts something that pushes it that far."

"Great. Two of us are saying it." Warren just downs the second tumbler of scotch, "Look, Bobby. I said I'm working on it, and I am. I'm not going to devote my life to this mission because I'm not sure it's going to even matter. We can talk at them all they want, but people will decide on their own and all I can do is talk about how mutants really don't want to conquer the world. But all it is is talk if Magneto tries to actually do that...and then I am a liar. This is a lot to stake my reputation, my company, and my life on, so forgive me if I'm not all gung ho about it this minute." Standing, he sets the glass down on the table, "I have things I need to do. You can stay or not, but I'm done talking about this right now."