AN: Watch it folks, this is a looong author's note. First of all, on behest of a few (Angel and randomgal and Your Worshipfulness and anyone else who feels like reading) I will continue posting. And here's a little paragraph on my opinions of everybody's favorite Cajun: (disregard if you don't want to hear me ramble)
You know, it's really too bad Hank McCoy (one of my favorite characters) with his dry sense of humor isn't going to be in X3--you don't really think they're going to have three blue characters, do you? Especially one that's blue and furry, which will be really hard on make-up time unless they CGI him (which, when you take a look at the new Hulk movie, doesn't turn out as well as it should). Ok, so they might put him in as a non-furry mutant, like they showed that little clip of him in X2, but I feel that the fur is part of what makes Hank so darn cool!
But they've got to put Remy in, especially after giving us that tease of his name on that list (did everyone see that?) It's not going to be that hard. Just find a guy who can do a reasonable Cajun accent (let's face it, some of the other accents in the movies aren't that good). You've got to admit, Gambit with his tall, lanky swaggering figure and ~admittedly~ substandard morals (even though we all know his heart is in the right place.. hee hee) would be a really good foil for Alan Cumming's portrayl of a devout but slightly reserved Nightcrawler. Not to mention the romantic tension that could be created between a Rogue/Iceman/Gambit triangle. .....Of course, even though we all adore Shawn Ashmore as the cute, responsible but cool Bobby Drake, he wouldn't be able to hold a candle to a properly done spicey Cajun.
Hm.. Maybe they shouldn't put Gambit in the movies. Who on earth could ever live up to my wonderful mental images? Garcon, I'll take two of those, please. Yes, that's right. Make mine a spicey Cajun sandwich. What? Oh no, I'll be in the middle. Great. Could you give us a few minutes, please?
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"Draw two??"
"Sorry, Hank. You're getting too close to Uno."
"So you goin' to join dese X-Men, m'dame?" Remy asked, slanting a look at Yuriko from his dark eyes. Laurel and Hank fell quiet again, listening to Yuriko's response. It had been two days since she had woken up, and while they had spoken much about the situation and how she came here, Yuriko herself said little.
"I don't think so," the older woman said as she laid down a card. "I would just like to take a break from fighting and taking orders for a while."
"They don't just fight and take orders," Laurel objected. "They help people."
"Hm." Yuriko considered her cards as Remy changed the colors again. "And this Magneto, he helps people too?"
"Well…." Laurel hesitated. "I don't like to point people either way, unless they need serious help, in which case I send them to Xavier's. I've never sent one to Lensher. He's not all bad….just a little….ruthless when it comes to his goals. He takes care of his mutant friends, but he hates the normies, and sometimes when people get in his way, mutant or normie, they're screwed. He thinks that mutants are the next step of human evolution."
"Which has never been proved," Hank interjected.
"Hey Beast, you a scientist. Why did we start to mutate?" Remy asked.
"Humans are far more susceptible to mutation than other creatures, mostly because we change our environment so much," the large man replied. "Cancer was a form of mutation among the cells, and what we're looking at today is simply the next step: mutation among the genetic code. A permanent, heritable mutation."
"So it is heritable, then?" asked Yuriko, a considering look crossing her face.
"Well, in most cases, yes." His voice took on the lecturing tone that Laurel had come to associate with Hank's scientific thinking. "Mutants have the expressed X genome, and even though no one has really figured out how it works, general scientific opinion is that it s a recessive trait, so according to basic genetics the offspring have a one in four chance of being a mutant. When two mutants create young, the offspring has no choice but to be a mutant. The uncertainty lies in what the mutation will be. Usually the parents' mutations will have some affect, but occasionally the resulting mutation of the offspring will be completely different. It's the 'wild card' so to speak that created the mutation among the parents in the first place. There are some cases where two mutants have 'normal' offspring, but that just means that the resulting mutation is so slight that there is almost no effect on the young."
"Thanks doc," Laurel said sardonically. She winked at the scientist, who made a mock-offended face at her.
"Stupid normies," Remy muttered, thinking about something. "Why can't dey just accept us an' move on?"
"Because they're afraid," Yuriko said. "I got a chance to see a lot of fear from them. They think that we're different."
"We're not," Hank said, also frowning.
"This from a six foot blue furry critter," Laurel said absently. "They'll figure it out eventually. Either that or we'll exterminate them." The others stared at her in shock, their mouths hanging open; she didn't notice. "Uno," she said cheerfully, laying down her second to last card.
"What was that?" Hank stuttered.
"Huh?"
"Why do you think we'll exterminate them?" Yuriko pressed.
Laurel shrugged. "Well, having this pretty much living forever mutation has allowed me to see things in the larger picture for a little while. And even though no one has really figured out exactly how the mutated X gene is passed throughout a genealogy, most biologists will tell you that you can't really apply population genetics to humans anyway, much less evolutional population genetics, because humans breed differently from all other creatures on the planet. But, what I figure is this: only a few people are mutants, right? But they got their mutations from a parent who had the X gene, and chances are that parent also had other kids. So we've got potential carriers, probably about two or three for every mutant, right?"
"More likely about four or five," Hank corrected, mesmerized.
"Ok, four or five. So, barring accidents, because humans also have the best survival rate for offspring, we've got four or five other people who will have one mutant kid, or at least two or three other carriers. With all the other carriers wandering around, we've got a pretty good chance that the number of mutants will shoot up quickly."
"Shouldn't that be happenin' right now, chere?" Remy asked.
"Not necessarily," Laurel said, pointing a finger at him. "We're in the earlier stages right now. That would have happened if people didn't have this thing about fear and hatred of what they don't understand, namely mutants. How many mutants have been denied reproduction rights because of politics and other things? And I'm not just talking about ways like Yuriko and I have been, uh, out of the running for the past few years. I'm talking about people who don't date, who stay away from other human contact, people who will probably never marry unless to another mutant, which also narrows down the numbers that would swell the, ahem, 'mutant brotherhood', to coin a phrase."
"There are the darker reasons as well," Yuriko said. "Mutant babies smothered or exposed at birth, anti-mutant lynch mobs, and mutant suicides."
"Right," Laurel nodded, her eyes resembling tiny chips of ice. "People who didn't even have a chance. I suspect that the numbers of mutants today are also drastically understated, because of people hiding them, or being hidden, or running away, or all sorts of things that prevent mutants from being in the public eye. But needless to say, due to all the mutants in the closet and the carriers, the number of mutants will eventually go up. It's inevitable. In order to stop the 'mutant epidemic' as anti-mutant groups like to call it, not only would they have to put away all mutants and families of mutants, they would also have to set the best scientists on figuring out what causes the X gene to mutate anyways, because I suspect more and more people are also getting mutated right now as we speak." She paused, and ran the last sentence through her head. "Well, they'd have to get the second-best scientists working on it, because the top four leaders of genetic research today are mutants themselves," she amended, grinning at Hank. "Only one of them blue, of course."
"The top four?" Hank started, but Yuriko held up a hand.
"Can we talk about who knows whom later?" she asked. "I want to hear the end of this. Go on. How are we going to exterminate them?"
"Well, by the time people figure out that mutants can't be stopped by prevention, they're going to move on to extermination, right? But by that time, the mutants themselves are already going to be fed up with the treatment they've gotten so far, because let's face it, if no one does anything soon, it's just going to get worse. Even if someone comes up with a so-called cure, there will still be the ones that won't want to be normal, that don't believe that they should hide themselves. And those numbers will get larger as time goes on. So we're going to have practically a world-wide civil war, normies versus mutants, if there are no peacekeepers. And let's face it, with the variety of mutations floating around now, and the projected variety we'll have by then, it won't be a contest at all. We'd wipe them off the face of the planet. No technology can keep up with some of the mutations I've seen now, and no sane mutant will be fighting on the side of the humans that want to enslave them," she sent a glance of apology to Yuriko. "Even if some do, unless they are insanely talented and strong, they'll be killed instantly by the other millions of just as powerful mutants on the other side. The war will be shorter than the Six Day War. But I have faith that before that happens, the people in charge of governments will eventually figure that out, too, and try to put a stop to all this. Maybe by that time normies will be a minority, because that's the way they're heading right now. And all what we'll have to deal with will be normie prejudice instead of mutant prejudice."
"You have that much faith in the government?" asked Yuriko skeptically.
"Well, by the time they figure it out, the people in charge will know some mutants personally," Laurel said. "Either by relation or by friendship, hopefully. We can't keep on putting so-called pure-blooded bigots in office now can we? Eventually someone's going to have a cousin, or a niece, or an old high school friend who's a mutant."
"Or someone will have to broadcast this idea to the world," Hank said thoughtfully.
Laurel caught his look. "Oh no," she said. "I can't do it. No one would believe me. There aren't enough facts in my thinking. I wouldn't be able to prove it. This is just me thinking out loud, here."
"But it makes sense," Yuriko said, in the same thoughtful tone Hank used.
"Fine---you do it."
"Let's not turn this into an argument, mon amies," Gambit said. He laid down his final card. "I win."
"I didn't hear you say Uno!" protested Laurel.
"Of course not, chere. You were talkin' too much." He winked at the party and stood up to stretch. "Gambit's getting lazy just sittin' aroun' doin' nothing. Hey, m'dame, you wanna try Gambit in a friendly fight? Dis thief promises he'll go easy on ya."
Yuriko placed her cards down and stood up too. "Very well. But it won't be I who will be in trouble," she added, with a light, quick smile.
Hank sighed and watched the two begin to warm up. "I guess I'll move the furniture out of the way."
"Just the breakable stuff, Hank," Laurel said absently, watching Yuriko. "The tables won't break, and it'll give them leverage and objects to work around." Her eyes narrowed as she thought. "Hmm…."
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Was that author's note longer than the chapter itself? Oh dear....
You know, it's really too bad Hank McCoy (one of my favorite characters) with his dry sense of humor isn't going to be in X3--you don't really think they're going to have three blue characters, do you? Especially one that's blue and furry, which will be really hard on make-up time unless they CGI him (which, when you take a look at the new Hulk movie, doesn't turn out as well as it should). Ok, so they might put him in as a non-furry mutant, like they showed that little clip of him in X2, but I feel that the fur is part of what makes Hank so darn cool!
But they've got to put Remy in, especially after giving us that tease of his name on that list (did everyone see that?) It's not going to be that hard. Just find a guy who can do a reasonable Cajun accent (let's face it, some of the other accents in the movies aren't that good). You've got to admit, Gambit with his tall, lanky swaggering figure and ~admittedly~ substandard morals (even though we all know his heart is in the right place.. hee hee) would be a really good foil for Alan Cumming's portrayl of a devout but slightly reserved Nightcrawler. Not to mention the romantic tension that could be created between a Rogue/Iceman/Gambit triangle. .....Of course, even though we all adore Shawn Ashmore as the cute, responsible but cool Bobby Drake, he wouldn't be able to hold a candle to a properly done spicey Cajun.
Hm.. Maybe they shouldn't put Gambit in the movies. Who on earth could ever live up to my wonderful mental images? Garcon, I'll take two of those, please. Yes, that's right. Make mine a spicey Cajun sandwich. What? Oh no, I'll be in the middle. Great. Could you give us a few minutes, please?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Draw two??"
"Sorry, Hank. You're getting too close to Uno."
"So you goin' to join dese X-Men, m'dame?" Remy asked, slanting a look at Yuriko from his dark eyes. Laurel and Hank fell quiet again, listening to Yuriko's response. It had been two days since she had woken up, and while they had spoken much about the situation and how she came here, Yuriko herself said little.
"I don't think so," the older woman said as she laid down a card. "I would just like to take a break from fighting and taking orders for a while."
"They don't just fight and take orders," Laurel objected. "They help people."
"Hm." Yuriko considered her cards as Remy changed the colors again. "And this Magneto, he helps people too?"
"Well…." Laurel hesitated. "I don't like to point people either way, unless they need serious help, in which case I send them to Xavier's. I've never sent one to Lensher. He's not all bad….just a little….ruthless when it comes to his goals. He takes care of his mutant friends, but he hates the normies, and sometimes when people get in his way, mutant or normie, they're screwed. He thinks that mutants are the next step of human evolution."
"Which has never been proved," Hank interjected.
"Hey Beast, you a scientist. Why did we start to mutate?" Remy asked.
"Humans are far more susceptible to mutation than other creatures, mostly because we change our environment so much," the large man replied. "Cancer was a form of mutation among the cells, and what we're looking at today is simply the next step: mutation among the genetic code. A permanent, heritable mutation."
"So it is heritable, then?" asked Yuriko, a considering look crossing her face.
"Well, in most cases, yes." His voice took on the lecturing tone that Laurel had come to associate with Hank's scientific thinking. "Mutants have the expressed X genome, and even though no one has really figured out how it works, general scientific opinion is that it s a recessive trait, so according to basic genetics the offspring have a one in four chance of being a mutant. When two mutants create young, the offspring has no choice but to be a mutant. The uncertainty lies in what the mutation will be. Usually the parents' mutations will have some affect, but occasionally the resulting mutation of the offspring will be completely different. It's the 'wild card' so to speak that created the mutation among the parents in the first place. There are some cases where two mutants have 'normal' offspring, but that just means that the resulting mutation is so slight that there is almost no effect on the young."
"Thanks doc," Laurel said sardonically. She winked at the scientist, who made a mock-offended face at her.
"Stupid normies," Remy muttered, thinking about something. "Why can't dey just accept us an' move on?"
"Because they're afraid," Yuriko said. "I got a chance to see a lot of fear from them. They think that we're different."
"We're not," Hank said, also frowning.
"This from a six foot blue furry critter," Laurel said absently. "They'll figure it out eventually. Either that or we'll exterminate them." The others stared at her in shock, their mouths hanging open; she didn't notice. "Uno," she said cheerfully, laying down her second to last card.
"What was that?" Hank stuttered.
"Huh?"
"Why do you think we'll exterminate them?" Yuriko pressed.
Laurel shrugged. "Well, having this pretty much living forever mutation has allowed me to see things in the larger picture for a little while. And even though no one has really figured out exactly how the mutated X gene is passed throughout a genealogy, most biologists will tell you that you can't really apply population genetics to humans anyway, much less evolutional population genetics, because humans breed differently from all other creatures on the planet. But, what I figure is this: only a few people are mutants, right? But they got their mutations from a parent who had the X gene, and chances are that parent also had other kids. So we've got potential carriers, probably about two or three for every mutant, right?"
"More likely about four or five," Hank corrected, mesmerized.
"Ok, four or five. So, barring accidents, because humans also have the best survival rate for offspring, we've got four or five other people who will have one mutant kid, or at least two or three other carriers. With all the other carriers wandering around, we've got a pretty good chance that the number of mutants will shoot up quickly."
"Shouldn't that be happenin' right now, chere?" Remy asked.
"Not necessarily," Laurel said, pointing a finger at him. "We're in the earlier stages right now. That would have happened if people didn't have this thing about fear and hatred of what they don't understand, namely mutants. How many mutants have been denied reproduction rights because of politics and other things? And I'm not just talking about ways like Yuriko and I have been, uh, out of the running for the past few years. I'm talking about people who don't date, who stay away from other human contact, people who will probably never marry unless to another mutant, which also narrows down the numbers that would swell the, ahem, 'mutant brotherhood', to coin a phrase."
"There are the darker reasons as well," Yuriko said. "Mutant babies smothered or exposed at birth, anti-mutant lynch mobs, and mutant suicides."
"Right," Laurel nodded, her eyes resembling tiny chips of ice. "People who didn't even have a chance. I suspect that the numbers of mutants today are also drastically understated, because of people hiding them, or being hidden, or running away, or all sorts of things that prevent mutants from being in the public eye. But needless to say, due to all the mutants in the closet and the carriers, the number of mutants will eventually go up. It's inevitable. In order to stop the 'mutant epidemic' as anti-mutant groups like to call it, not only would they have to put away all mutants and families of mutants, they would also have to set the best scientists on figuring out what causes the X gene to mutate anyways, because I suspect more and more people are also getting mutated right now as we speak." She paused, and ran the last sentence through her head. "Well, they'd have to get the second-best scientists working on it, because the top four leaders of genetic research today are mutants themselves," she amended, grinning at Hank. "Only one of them blue, of course."
"The top four?" Hank started, but Yuriko held up a hand.
"Can we talk about who knows whom later?" she asked. "I want to hear the end of this. Go on. How are we going to exterminate them?"
"Well, by the time people figure out that mutants can't be stopped by prevention, they're going to move on to extermination, right? But by that time, the mutants themselves are already going to be fed up with the treatment they've gotten so far, because let's face it, if no one does anything soon, it's just going to get worse. Even if someone comes up with a so-called cure, there will still be the ones that won't want to be normal, that don't believe that they should hide themselves. And those numbers will get larger as time goes on. So we're going to have practically a world-wide civil war, normies versus mutants, if there are no peacekeepers. And let's face it, with the variety of mutations floating around now, and the projected variety we'll have by then, it won't be a contest at all. We'd wipe them off the face of the planet. No technology can keep up with some of the mutations I've seen now, and no sane mutant will be fighting on the side of the humans that want to enslave them," she sent a glance of apology to Yuriko. "Even if some do, unless they are insanely talented and strong, they'll be killed instantly by the other millions of just as powerful mutants on the other side. The war will be shorter than the Six Day War. But I have faith that before that happens, the people in charge of governments will eventually figure that out, too, and try to put a stop to all this. Maybe by that time normies will be a minority, because that's the way they're heading right now. And all what we'll have to deal with will be normie prejudice instead of mutant prejudice."
"You have that much faith in the government?" asked Yuriko skeptically.
"Well, by the time they figure it out, the people in charge will know some mutants personally," Laurel said. "Either by relation or by friendship, hopefully. We can't keep on putting so-called pure-blooded bigots in office now can we? Eventually someone's going to have a cousin, or a niece, or an old high school friend who's a mutant."
"Or someone will have to broadcast this idea to the world," Hank said thoughtfully.
Laurel caught his look. "Oh no," she said. "I can't do it. No one would believe me. There aren't enough facts in my thinking. I wouldn't be able to prove it. This is just me thinking out loud, here."
"But it makes sense," Yuriko said, in the same thoughtful tone Hank used.
"Fine---you do it."
"Let's not turn this into an argument, mon amies," Gambit said. He laid down his final card. "I win."
"I didn't hear you say Uno!" protested Laurel.
"Of course not, chere. You were talkin' too much." He winked at the party and stood up to stretch. "Gambit's getting lazy just sittin' aroun' doin' nothing. Hey, m'dame, you wanna try Gambit in a friendly fight? Dis thief promises he'll go easy on ya."
Yuriko placed her cards down and stood up too. "Very well. But it won't be I who will be in trouble," she added, with a light, quick smile.
Hank sighed and watched the two begin to warm up. "I guess I'll move the furniture out of the way."
"Just the breakable stuff, Hank," Laurel said absently, watching Yuriko. "The tables won't break, and it'll give them leverage and objects to work around." Her eyes narrowed as she thought. "Hmm…."
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Was that author's note longer than the chapter itself? Oh dear....
