Mina Manabe

All I am is whatever they need me to be.

[lightningfor-blood]

Text @ Jason

Jason: Why the fuck are you laughing? I am.

Jason: I like dark alleys though. Fun shit happens there.

Mina: No reason I can think of...

Mina: You're going to give me gray hair, Jason.

Mina: ...can we even get gray hair?

[lightningfor-blood]

Text @ Jason

Jason: I feel like I'm a dick ninety percent of the time so I don't understand WHY.

Jason: I'm fucking charming, that's how.

Jason: Honestly, I'm still half convinced it's a joke...or a trap.

Mina: Idek...

Mina: HAH.

Mina: Just don't go into any dark alleys, give any tissue samples, or sign any contracts.

[roguewithapurpose-deactivated20]

Nothing Left to Say// Jason & Mina

[roguewithapurpose-deactivated20]

Jason blinked slowly as he listened, the mention of family and friendship having him lift his head and settle his gaze on Mina. His eyes had softened, as if her words reminded him that if anything, he did have her. They’d had their moments–arguing, fighting, possibly contemplating the consequences of killing the other at first, but despite all the roughness around the edges, she’d had his back from the very beginning.

No. The Rogues weren’t his family, no matter how much he had viewed them as such. He had cared for them all dearly, but it had never been returned, that much became clear when the gunfire sound and the test of loyalty had been laid into place. There wasn’t a doubt in Jason’s mind that if the event were to repeat itself, Mina would stand over and defend him.

And he would do the same without a second thought.

"Yeah, I know." He said, voice slightly rasped, and so he cleared his throat to strengthen it. "I know."

His eyes strayed to her arms, his own scars giving a small throb as he thought about the things they had both been through. There was no going back, only moving forward, and sometimes you needed to wash the path with a little blood to keep the same people from hurting you again.

"It’s easy to put your complete faith in someone, especially during times of desperation. Even more so when you’re young and you have nothing." Jason sighed, shaking his head. "But at least where I am now…it feels safe…feels right."

[lightningfor-blood]

“Non,” Mina murmured under her breath.

"Mon cher, I don't think we'll ever be completely safe. But things are becoming right. We've got a lot of work to do but they're becoming right."

She reached a hand out and closed her cold, small fingers around Jason’s wrist. The familiar sharp static-sting and pull of energy bit into Jason’s skin as the mutant beside him searched inside of him. The check ups were less frequent but Mina still did them and she probably would as long as they were alive. A cure for the overheating problem in the ex-gangster was still a ways off, at least as far as she could see and mind over matter took time. Jason overheating and incinerating a city block was never going to happen as long as she could help it. Uncomfortable as they were, they were practically a manifestation of how much Mina cared for her adopted brother. Satisfied with what she found, Mina retracted her hand and moved to rise to her feet.


“I'm cold, let’s get back inside. Or go someplace else once we've washed your hands."

[coolshadowcatkittypryde]

[PM] So after a hellish weekend of food poisoning...

[coolshadowcatkittypryde]

That’s genius!…just give me a second…

Okay back with the schools complete supply of gatorade, and thanks to you I will bring down this sickness, I will show it what’s boss, I will scream my victory cry. 

Definitely, never trust pigtails. 

[lightningfor-blood]

Lol, nono. It's nothing you wouldn't be able to find on Web MD.

If you can't get it under control after 24 hours and you're not keeping water down either, then you may need to go into a hospital. I'm not a doctor or anything but sometimes you just need a round of antibiotics, antinauseats and a banana bag... But that's usually for viral food poisonings... Lol, sorry, I got away from myself!

Kids! I know! Adorable, chubby-cheeked demons!!

[coolshadowcatkittypryde]

[PM] So after a hellish weekend of food poisoning...

[coolshadowcatkittypryde]

It’s been a mess to say the least, but I have done a good job being my own best friend, holding my hair up and watching my kitten huddle up into my side.

A kids cupcake that she cooked with her imagination. 

[lightningfor-blood]

Make sure you rehydrate- not with water, either. Go for those electrolyte powders. Gatorade's okay if you haven't got anything else but when you lose that much fluid...

Oh...oh noooooo. That's...really kind of you but oh noooooo!

Lesson learned, I guess...?

[coolshadowcatkittypryde]

[PM] So after a hellish weekend of food poisoning...

Guess who’snow able to look at screens once again.

[lightningfor-blood]

A whole week, eh?? That sounds awful! Where do you think you got it from?

[lightningfor-blood]

Text @ Jason

Jason: Hey it's still pending evidently. The guy couldn't take no for an answer so he told me to reconsider.

Jason: I think I'd be a kickass Avenger! Maybe I'd get my own action figure!

Jason: Fuck I'm cracking up again.

Mina: Fuck right off! Jason! Oh my god, how did your smartass mouth not turn that guy immediately???? Apparently miracles still do happen.

Mina: Just what your hot head needs. To get even bigger.

Mina: I'm crying. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE. HOW.

[lightningfor-blood]

Text @ Jason

Jason: We'll see as it plays out. I am glad you're here though.

Jason: Yeah figured you would like that. Coulson I think is who it was? Said I could do a lot to help them. Swear I almost pissed myself.

Mina: ...you're okay to be around too. :p

Mina: Good grief! Lol, you missed your calling, Jace! You could be the next Captain America! Or Torch! Think of all the righteousness you could bring to the world!!

Mina: Omg my side's cramping. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.

[lightningfor-blood]

Text @ Jason

Jason: Trust or not, I owe him.

Jason: Topic dropped then.

Jason: Yeah I know. Oh...did I tell you that I had a SHIELD agent try to recruit me?

Mina: You can owe someone and still keep enough smarts about you to not get stabbed in the back, eh? I don't want to be stuck fixing your head back onto your neck after you get it chopped off for sticking it out too far, okay?

Mina: Thank you.

Mina: Hahahahahahahahaha omg what. WHAT?

[lightningfor-blood]

Text @ Jason

Jason: I like the guy.

Jason: Seriously though. This kid needs a wake up call.

Jason: No. Though I'd really like to get my hands on another one.

Mina: That's nice. Please, don't trust him.

Mina: Alexander Rosado is not someone I want to talk about with you.

MIna: Don't rush, Jace. Kill too many at a time and people will start wondering if something weird isn't going on.

[lightningfor-blood]

Text @ Jason

Jason: I don't want toast...might go speak to Doom...maybe he'll give me something to do.

Jason: When you going to step up to him then?

Jason: Yeah I did. Got fucked up bad by somebody. Stabbed like...five or six times.

Mina: Maybe. Don't be too trusting of our host. We still don't know what he wants from us.

Mina: Fuck off, Jace.

Mina: Not a Rogue, I take it?

[lightningfor-blood]

Text @ Jason

Jason: His version of the truth is so far from right and that gets on my last nerve. He's so fucking blind and everything he says feels like a fucking challenge

Mina: Do something else. Toast some bread with all that heat in your head.

Mina: If he's issuing challenges, they are not yours to answer.

Mina: Did you actually find a body, by the way?

[lightningfor-blood]

Text @ Jason

Jason:I told you I wouldn't touch him, and I won't.

Jason:He's fucking annoying though. If he's going to talk shit about me, at least get it right.

Mina: I'm glad we understand each other.

Mina: ....he talks about what he believes is true. Everyone does that. Why are you fixating on him like this?

[lightningfor-blood]

Text @ Jason

Mina: I know you want to fuck with him but remember your promise.

[roguewithapurpose-deactivated20]

Nothing Left to Say// Jason & Mina

[roguewithapurpose-deactivated20]

The water sliding against his skin was a nice distraction, slowly pulling him from his memories of pain and fear, of the night he’d been abandoned in the street and left for dead. He had been reaching for his brothers, asking for help, and their backs had turned.

Jason continued to stare down at his hands, his fingers slowly curling beneath the stream of water. Her question didn’t receive an immediate answer, as the one asked before it, simply because he currently had no grasp on how he felt. The mutant felt hollow, his anger drained and leaving him with a strange lack of emotion.

They did deserve it. They were all the scum of the earth, cowards that pledged false loyalty. They had beaten Jason, used him to gain what they could, and in the end went back on all the beliefs they had instilled.

"No." He said bluntly, fingers curling into a tight fist before slowly releasing again. "They’re the ones who should feel guilt and regret, as well as fear and pain, and they will feel it before the end.”

[lightningfor-blood]

It was unsettling to see someone as animated as Jason suddenly so subdued. Distantly, something rang in alarm; probably the part of Mina that was still Miho and still believed that revenge was poisonous but the rest of her wanted what Jason had had. The two men who had died at her hands had gotten exactly as they had deserved, even if murderous intent had been the farthest thing from her mind at the time and she wanted more. Nodding distractedly, Mina’s focus remained entranced as much by the trickle of water over her adopted brother’s skin as she was by her own warring thoughts. She poured for several heartbeats longer than necessary before slowly righting the bottle and recapping it. Setting it down to her other side, the mutant sat stiffly alongside him. “They weren’t your family.” Mina’s voice was rough and she licked her lips and swallowed to draw saliva to her mouth. “They weren’t even your friends, eh? You know that?”   The gravel beneath her feet growled quietly as she pulled them up so she could wrap her arms around her shins and rest her temple against a knee. Her dark eyes wandered over Jason’s wet hands a moment more before flicking to his face and resting there.

“Friends don’t abandon you when you’re in trouble. What you're doing...it's balancing the books.”

[roguewithapurpose-deactivated20]

Nothing Left to Say// Jason & Mina

[roguewithapurpose-deactivated20]

For a long moment, Jason wasn’t sure how to respond to the questions he was being asked. He could only look up, gazing at Mina with hollow eyes as if they reflected how clueless he was on what to feel. As much as he wished to be alone, something about her presence was comforting, as if she was a part of him he currently needed around no matter how much he would refuse to admit.

He didn’t move when she sat beside him, her words somehow sliding into his muddled brain with the conjoined sound of the dribbling water from the fountain behind them. It was soothing in its own way, and Jason wondered to himself now how he wasn’t punching holes in walls or cringing on the ground from loss of control.

Perhaps his meditation with Doom was paying off.

Hands slowly moved forward so that they were clear of his legs, Jason taking a moment to stare at the darkened splash of color against his skin before he finally found the ability to speak.

"I feel…like a weight has been lifted…" He muttered. "But there’s so many more there…so many fucking more." He probably sounded like he was losing his mind, he was sure of it, and maybe that wasn’t far from the truth. But at least with Mina here he wasn’t ashamed to admit things. She had seen Jason at vulnerable points, even made him a writhing bloody mess on the floor, and so for that, she had access to a side of him no one else did.

[lightningfor-blood]

The long, silent gap that stretched out between question and answer gave the mutant pause and she thought for a moment that Jason hadn’t heard her or maybe didn't really want to speak to her at all. She was a hair away from asking Jason again when he spoke and Mina’s lips pinched thin. The ghost of who she once was wanted to tell Jason that revenge wasn’t the answer. That violence in answer to wrongs committed only created more pain, more suffering and in the end, fixed nothing at all. But what did she know? When she had read those ideas, Mina had had no experience in what it had felt like to be attacked, victimized or wronged. That was no longer the case and violence seemed like the perfect answer. An eye for an eye. Or something like that. Pain for pain, at least. Mina tipped the bottle so a thin, steady stream of water poured out over Jason’s hands. It would take more than water alone to wash the shadows of blood from his skin but it would loosen the thicker stains and fade them a bit. Her eyes lowered, watching Jason’s hands rather than his face as he spoke. “You're giving them what they deserve," She finally decided, before adding, "...No guilt? No regret?”

The mutant’s voice was quiet, almost disinterested in tone.

[roguewithapurpose-deactivated20]

Nothing Left to Say// Jason & Mina

Jason had been surprised to say the least when Doom opened a doorway to reveal a tied up Rogue, waiting for the revenge that was due. It had been Luke…the very man he had caught sight of months ago and nearly resulted in him having an episode on the street due to the sudden burst of rage. Doom had delivered him, at Jason’s mercy and disposal inside a small room from which there was no hope of escape. 

It hadn’t lasted long. A few screams, some cries for mercy, and then silence–blood staining the walls and floor, as well as Jason’s hands.

He’d made his way outside shortly after, needing fresh air and some open space to just take a moment to gather himself. As good as it had felt to knock one of the Rogues off the list, he was still shocked by the suddenness of it. Luke’s begging and excuses had brought back a rush of memories, and now Jason just wanted to block it all out. 

Sitting beside the fountain, Jason made to run his hands through his hair, but stopped at the sight of the dried blood. He grimaced a little, then let his hands fall into his lap, head dropping as he gathered a deep breath of air into his lungs.

[lightningfor-blood]

“Does it feel good? Better? ” Mina asked quietly as she nodded towards Jason’s hands. The rust-colored stain on the man’s skin was impossible to mistake for anything else and she didn’t know her adopted brother to be so sadistic as to run down and torture small animals. No, revenge was more Jason’s style. Both of their’s, if she was being honest.

Pushing the hood of her hoodie back, she moved closer and removed her hands from the pockets of her black jean jacket.

She unhooked the plastic 7-11 bag from her wrist unceremoniously before sinking down beside him. It had been several weeks since they had properly talked and that was on her. These days, she spent more time inside her own head than she did outside of the house and then she spent half of it skulking in the shadows and avoiding people and the other half sparking bar fights to vent what she couldn’t get out of her head. It was kind of a miracle she hadn’t attracted the attention of law enforcement, one she didn’t think would last all that long. Seeing Jason like this made her wonder if this wasn’t where she’d end up in a little time. The people who had hurt her directly had paid for what they had done but there were still people she felt no kindness towards. Old friends. When she thought of their faces, she felt the same stab of loneliness that she always felt but there was a greater desire for revenge than she could put words too. The desire for blood was overpowering and blinding but right now, she felt none of it. Right now, she just wanted to reconnect with Jason.  Mina licked her lips and pulled a quarter-drunk liter of water out of  the plastic bag she had been carrying. “Hold your hands out.” She unscrewed the cap of the bottle  and held it out so she could pour water over Jason’s hands.