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Post by A Random Player on Jun 25, 2019 12:18:30 GMT -7
Okay, this was clearly one of Franklin's attempts to lure her into something that'll cause her a lot of trouble. Despite his assurances, and something about him and Ms. Rachel she's going to pretend she didn't hear (shivers), the red girl wasn't quite convinced just yet. "So it's not dangerous?" Shelly asked in a whisper. The red girl wouldn't take Franklin's word over that of her teacher's, but she can tell that he wasn't lying about time traveling a lot. And hands-on experience had always been the best way to learn... only nobody ever recommended it for history. Her mind was moving at 1,000 miles an hour. She did want to see what it truly was like for mutants back in the day, but if she became someone responsible for destroying the multiverse...(whatever that was, it sounds very serious). "You're really sure that nothing will happen?"Her speeding thoughts showed no signs of slowing. "The multiverse won't break or anything?"--------------------
Leaders are to pursue peace.
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Post by Gordy on Jun 25, 2019 12:35:13 GMT -7
"More powerful than Thor, Hulk or the Surfer."------------------------------------------------------ And there it was: that little bit of curiosity that peeked out of her reservations. Franklin loved seeing that curiosity in people. He knew just how to bring it out in the open and get people on board with his adventures. "Oh, it's extremely dangerous," the boy answered. "I won't lie to you about that. But I know how to handle myself. I know how to work three different time machines, how to keep us locked to a specific timeline, and how to cover our tracks in the past. So... yeah. It's only dangerous for time travelers who are not us."Franklin rose up from his seat and dug into his pants pocket. He produced a key ring full of jingling keys, which he proceeded to wiggle in front of Shelly. Tempting her with her deepest desires, which hung from a little ring right in front of her. "I can bring a time machine to the forest right now; we can leave immediately. I'll even let you use an image inducer, if you want to disguise yourself."------------------------------------------------------ "I can do this!"
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Post by A Random Player on Jun 26, 2019 2:42:01 GMT -7
Of course he's prepared to leave immediately, Franklin wasn't going to give her any time to reconsider. It seemed like Franklin was about to leave the room. The red girl stood up on her desk. "Fine!" Shelly said, a little too loudly. Then in a quieter voice, she continued. "But if anything happens... you're gonna have to fix it." It sounded like a selfish request considering they're doing this for her benefit, but from the red girl's point of view it was still perfectly fair since Franklin was the one who coerced her into agreeing. Part of her mind was still convinced that this was a terrible idea, but it was silenced by a currently more-dominant, louder part that wanted to see first-hand how mutants used to live back in the day. Self-control was hard and right now, the red girl's curiosity had won out. "Should I pack anything before we go?"--------------------
Leaders are to pursue peace.
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Post by Gordy on Jun 26, 2019 17:31:31 GMT -7
"More powerful than Thor, Hulk or the Surfer."------------------------------------------------------ GOT 'EM. "I put everything in the car already," he explained. "Or, I will. And I already did. Time travel."
And speaking of traveling through time, here's a timeskip. Picture it: somewhere in the woods behind the school. The two kids stood in front of a large rectangle on the ground. It was flat and glowed a soft, eerie white. It was almost like a piece of the ground was missing, exposing nothingness underneath. A glitch in a video game, or a hole in reality. "I, uh, forgot that the other time machine is in the shop," the boy said sheepishly. "But this one's safe. Just jump in and keep your hands and feet inside."
Under one arm, he carried a small, potted rose bush. In his other hand, he held out what appeared to be a watch with a computer screen for a face. He offered the later to Shelly for personal use. "Here's the image inducer, if you want to avoid getting discriminated against."And with that statement, the boy ran on top of the rectangle. He looked back at Shelly and smiled broadly, waiting for her to join him. And if she did... ------------------------------------------------------ "I can do this!"
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Post by A Random Player on Jun 27, 2019 1:02:35 GMT -7
Shelly tilted her head in confusion, this whole time traveling lingo was going to take some time getting used to. And Franklin couldn't look anymore pleased of himself if he tried. All that made the red girl more and more convinced that she'd just made a big mistake.
The "time machine" Franklin took her to looked not at all like Shelly expected one would look like. Then again, this was the first real one she ever saw, so perhaps this was how it's really meant to look. As she walked and stood above the white square, what Franklin said about leaving the other time machine in the shop concerned her. "Wait, wha--"Her question was caught short when Franklin threw a watch-like device towards her, explaining that it was an image inducer. "Ah!" She barely managed to catch it and put it on as Franklin hopped back to the white square. "Wait, I think I changed my--""--mind."Well, this is different.--------------------
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Post by Gummy on Jun 27, 2019 8:59:53 GMT -7
Klara waited as patiently as she knew how. Very well. She watched as the police moved the protesters on and carried on looking for new kids then she spotted two looking... odd! She frowned at the pair calling out with a smile on her face. The scrawny preteen looked malnourished but ok.
"Your late. Did you have issues getting through the crowd? The overseer won't be happy if you don't try to get here on time."
She held her hand out to Franklin curtsying a little before looking down at their feet.
"Hi, I'm Klara. You will need to take your shoes off... just put them in one of the boxes along with anything else... like the plant. only bare feet on the factory floor. I'm to show you around then get you to the sewing room. You will start with buttons until you have proven your skill at sewing well. Then progress onto button holes at and finally attaching cuffs, collars and lace. At which point when you get big enough your'll be moved to either the cutting room, the looms or the making room. It's really hot in here at the moment with the heat wave so take off your shawl and wrap it around your waist. Everything else can stay until we get to the sewing room. Have you got neck scarves?"
Klara reached into a pocket and produced a headscarf tying over her mouth.
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Post by Gordy on Jun 27, 2019 12:36:08 GMT -7
"More powerful than Thor, Hulk or the Surfer."------------------------------------------------------ The year: 1907. American industrialization was moving full-steam ahead, and the country that they knew and love was quickly modernizing and improving. They were at an important junction in history: stuck in the past, but moving towards the future, creating an interesting and exciting present. They stepped out from behind some trees, into a busy world of protesters. Police walked the streets, guiding the natives out of the way, while dark smoke billowed from the tops of smokestacks. It was hot and muggy, with a thick scent of dust wafting in the air. Franklin would have tried to reassure Shelly, but the girl before him caught his eye. Dark hair, pale skin, tiny and thin. An old friend, Klara Prast. She didn't seem to remember him. That was a little painful, in all honestly. But given how they parted last time, it was probably for the best. Franklin gripped his potted plant and smiled. "We don't have any scarves, but we're eager to work, Klara. Can you show us around the workplace, so we can get our bearings?"Wait, what? Since when was working in a factory part of the assignment. Surely Shelly must be confused and frustrated. But they didn't have any time to discuss it; if they showed any confusion in front of Klara, it would prove that they didn't belong here. Shelly, he thought to his friend. I know this is sudden, but we're following this girl.------------------------------------------------------ "I can do this!"
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Post by A Random Player on Jun 29, 2019 13:15:39 GMT -7
The image inducer had done its job properly, though Shelly Blues would yet to have a chance to see her new appearance. Besides that, her mind was occupied by the different sight, smell, and sounds of the new world before her, so different from the one she's used to. Not necessarily better, but certainly different. Before too long, a girl approached the two of them, talking about a factory, sewing, and cutting. It wasn't that this girl who introduced herself as Klara was speaking in a different language, but Shelly still had no idea what she meant. "I think you have the wrong--" "We don't have any scarves, but we're eager to work, Klara. Can you show us around the workplace, so we can get our bearings?" Before Shelly could finish her sentence, Franklin interjected by going along with what the girl just said. Are they going to work in a factory now? The currently regular-colored girl was not prepared for this. Though she didn't prepare for much at all. Shelly, I know this is sudden, but we're following this girl. Shelly looked towards Franklin, only to find that he hadn't said anything. Right, telepathy. Professor Xavier was one too, though she's never fully understood how the ability worked. But knowing how somebody had just tampered with her mind somehow made Shelly feel very uncomfortable regardless. And Franklin's message was no less confusing, she'd been under the impression that they were only here to observe. Still, he's the expert here. It's probably best to follow Franklin's lead for now. "Uhh, uhm, should I put my shoes here?"--------------------
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Post by Gummy on Jun 29, 2019 14:07:02 GMT -7
Klara rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand and nodded at the other girl there. One of the older men closed the door behind Franklin and Shelly. They were shut in, which was normal for a working shift. Anyone who hadn't turned up wouldn't get paid. "Ok.... This is mainly the engine room and preparing the raw material to make into cloth on this floor. It is very noisy and you might be chosen to work there... sorry I didn't catch your names."
She waited until she got their names. "No questions until we finish. It won't take long."
She smiled then walked into a room where a load of very noisy machinery was, a few men were busy moving large barrows while women were preparing the wool and flax in their raw form - a strong smell of urine merged with everything else. Then put into a machine to be made into thread. It came out the other end looking like fine golden hair all combed. The dust in the room was unbelievable. She didn't say anything until they got to a flight of stairs. "There are two sets of stairs, one at the front and this one. Next floor turns the strands into cord of varying thickness. The wool is sent next door through a hole in the wall to the wool side."
She pointed to a hole with a belt feeding through and on it were lumps of wool. "This floor you have to be careful of your feet and toes. My friend just lost his foot when he went under to catch a loose thread."
She looked to Franklin. "Don't worry your too talk."
Then she looked at Shelly. "They might put you there or me but at the moment a lot of us have just been moved out of where we are working to here or the next couple of floors."
She walked up the stairs and took them through a room which had hundreds of bobbins being loaded with thread, a kid of about 10 stopped at gawked at the pair before he got a clip around the ear for not focusing. Klara looked back at the pair. "Better a sore ear than loosing your hand."
She could barely be heard but this floor had more of a hum compared to the last floor. She walking them through until they got to the front of the building. Then climbed the stairs pausing again. "The front is the finest quality, where we entered is the poorest quality. The next floor is where they weave the fabric. Klara carried on talking them up the stairs and into a room which was quieter apart from the odd clunk of the shuttle. There were a good lot of looms all powered in this room. A woman tended one and there was a younger person who helped. One of them waved to Klara who waved back. Some of the women were singing "The Shuttle Rin" Klara joined in. She then took them to the back stairs taking them up the last floor. There were men here carrying fabrics to different locations all finished. This was a quieter room only the sound of the sewing machines were heard. This floor was split into sections, one side made shirts, another trousers and skirts. Men and women were working here side by side starting with cutting and ending in the hand sewing. A man approached Klara looking very angry he raised his hand as if he was about to strike Klara who ducked out the way. "I'm sorry sir, the overseerer asked me to show them around. I promise I will get on with my work."
She removed her neck scarf from her face straightening up. He didn't strike just grumbled under his breath. He was sweating buckets as were all the others there. Most of them didn't have any shirts on and skirts were hitched up to allow a slight breeze. The women wore just thin vests, while the men did the same. Trousers rolled up to above the knee. The foreman nodded to Klara and pointed to one of the side rooms and she took the two in. Klara let out a little breath as she got in. She took off her shawl and folded it then promptly sat on it. She then looked at the other two. "Ok.... This is where we work, if we are lucky the door will be left open and our foreman won't bother us... if he is in a bad mood he will stalk about. At the moment he is in a good mood otherwise I would have got hit for even speaking. Come on... you have buttons to sew on. I will show you a couple then you can get going. It's all marked just don't put the wrong colour on or you will have to remove it and get money docked for unsewn buttons. Any questions?"
Klara smiled and picked up a shirt off a nearby pile. There must have been about 20 on her stack. There were only 5 on each of theirs but there were a few more piles without anyone to work and she sighed. She knew she needed to get through all of those before she was even allowed food.
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Post by Gordy on Jul 1, 2019 8:40:23 GMT -7
"More powerful than Thor, Hulk or the Surfer."------------------------------------------------------ Franklin followed along with the tour, making impressed or positive comments on occasion. But his heart wasn't in on the wonders of child labor. Instead, he was thinking about Shelly. He didn't want to drag her into this mess. He didn't want to have her run the risk of losing a foot or hand, either. He just wanted her to observe and get all the information she needed, while he got to see Klara. But on the plus side, he made this journey with the right companion. Shelly was the only person who could understand him. Klara Prast is a mutant, he told her. A cholorokinetic. She's the one who gave me this rose bush, last time I was here.
An angry-looking man approached Klara, raising his hand. Before Franklin could react on his first instincts (putting the man to sleep), Klara was able to explain the situation to the man. He looked to Shelly at this time, as if to say "See? This is what we're dealing with!" She's also a child bride. She works in a factory. She was really sick last time I saw her."Thanks for the tour, Klara," Franklin said happily. "I'm gonna use my first paycheck on some flower seeds for my garden."
With that said, the boy placed his potted plant on the ground and took a seat beside Klara. He didn't know how to sew or do... anything here, really. But with the power of telepathy, it wouldn't be hard to pick up. I can tell you which kids are mutants here. You can learn as much as you want from them. Or, do whatever you want and I'll help. But I'm going to try and help Klara.------------------------------------------------------ "I can do this!"
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Post by A Random Player on Jul 1, 2019 10:51:24 GMT -7
Just what kind of place is this?Shelly got more and more revolted as Klara progressed showing the two around on their "tour" of the factory. There were children everywhere, working hard labor around machines that were obviously unsafe and the dust and smell of this room alone made her want to vomit. She had expected to see... something, but didn't at all expect it to be this bad! And that part about losing arms and legs didn't sound like a joke, or else it was a very terrible one. Shelly never studied workplace safety protocols in detail but she can say with confidence that this place must be violating all of them! All the while Franklin's voice spoke directly to her mind to make her more and more uncomfortable. She couldn't tell when he was actually talking and when he was just beaming his thoughts into her mind. Eventually, she just decided to not respond to the boy's voice. She did learn some things though, Klara was a mutant, which explained a lot. Of course mutants were treated terribly. She was also married somehow!? Either she was really small, or she looked a lot like Shelly's own age. Am I the only one finding this really weird? It felt like everything she knew about normalcy was being challenged. And when the big man looked like he was about to hit Klara, Shelly was ready to step in then, but Klara managed to defuse the situation somehow even if Shelly disagreed with how she had to appease his unreasonable attitude. "Is it like this everyday? Aren't there unions that's supposed to make things... better?"As she spoke, Shelly noticed faint voices from the other kids in the factory. It came to reason that they too would be against such an unjust treatment of a fellow mutant. --------------------
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Post by Gummy on Jul 1, 2019 11:10:42 GMT -7
Klara beamed at Franklin as he mentioned getting seeds for a garden. She chuckled.
"Where do you live? There aren't many places with gardens around here. I'm lucky I have an escape ladder. Is that plant yours... it looks like you know what you... "
She paused in her talking as it reminded her of one that had vanished and then she smiled and then looked to Franklin with an even larger smile then laughed at Shelly.
"Unions! That's a laugh! If it was up to the people outside picketing none of us kids would be here which would mean all of us on the streets begging! All of us here are legal... we are all 15! The ones out there they are all 16! That's what it says on our work cards."
She then showed them the shirt where a cross was marked. Then told them how to put the button on with the holes across the cross and how to set a needle.
"If your out there you will be 16, in here 15... oh. At lunch I will have to take you to the office so you can get your card sorted out."
There were a few other mutants but a lot were normal. No matter what the person they were all treated the same. Even age didn't matter. Klara was also definitely not 15! She repeated how to sew a button a few more times before carrying on with her own work of button holes.
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Post by Gordy on Jul 11, 2019 9:29:48 GMT -7
"More powerful than Thor, Hulk or the Surfer."------------------------------------------------------ Sewing on buttons was easy enough, even for a novice like Franklin. And at least this would be another story under his belt; the time he became a sweatshop worker over a hundred years ago. It would rank among such "great" feats as the time he was put into a come, the time he was trapped in Hell, and the time he put his sister back in the womb. "I live somewhere not too far off," he said, in the sense that the future was not too far off, even though a hundred years totally was. But whatever. Semantics. "With my mom, and my dad, and my uncles, and my little sister."Shelly brought up a good point of discussion: unions. Even the robots at the Baxter Building had their own union. Though he also noted Klara lying about her age. In fact, all of these kids had to have been lying in order to have their jobs. The adults probably knew they were lying, but didn't care because they were benefiting from it. That made his blood boil. "I think I'm getting the hang of this job," Franklin continued. "So, what other things do we need to worry about? How often will those guard guys try to hit us?"------------------------------------------------------ "I can do this!"
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Post by A Random Player on Jul 14, 2019 22:39:42 GMT -7
Shelly was absolutely flabbergasted at Klara's reply. For some reason she could tell that the girl was definitely much younger than 15, despite it being theoretically possible. In fact, almost everyone in the factory shouldn't be old enough to work. Ans the voices she was hearing was getting louder and louder too, though neither Franklin nor Klara were reacting to the near deafening noise around them. There was something so terribly wrong with the past. "I... I think I need to go." The formerly red girl took a few steps back before running away completely from the factory. This wasn't just about mutants anymore, everything in this era is just wrong. She could hear the voices of everyone as she ran past them, mutants or humans they were all suffering. Most of them, anyway. She would curl up into a ball in front of the factory building. She'd imagined mutants being treated badly, but how could humans treat each other this way? Her whole world view was being challenged by the atrocities of the era. Shelly used to think she only needed to protect mutants from bad humans who try to exploit them, but then just what is she supposed to think right now, seeing and hearing what she's experiencing? --------------------
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Post by Gummy on Jul 15, 2019 5:28:33 GMT -7
Klara sat there sewing really neat buttonholes fairly quickly then using special scissors to cut the hole. She was only working on the cuffs as there seemed to be something tough inside them. She didn't look up as she worked just talked while she worked.
"If your late and the doors are closed, you won't get any work. If the inspectors are in..."
Just then she frowned at Shelly as she spoke then promptly left. Klara's jaw dropped open then looked to Franklin.
"You need to get your sister back here. If she doesn't we have to do her work. Good buttons, keep it up. I can cover for the pair of you but it will be five minutes max. She needs to get back in here or she will loose her job and if your not back so will you and I.... I will have to do all the work before I leave and I won't get a bonus... If your parents sent you both here then you need the money. I'll tell the foreman that she wasn't feeling well, nerves. Hurry!"
She carried on sewing knowing that she couldn't afford to loose the job. She bit her bottom lip looking worried. There was a lot of work to do but she couldn't wallow... she just worked harder slipping off the last layer of clothing leaving a loose top revealing how young she was. She carried on working sat on the floor.
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