Giovanna M. Bennet (burnwithlight) wrote in marvel_nextgen,
@ 2010-09-08 17:17:00

Entry tags:

giovanna bennet, inactive - julian gallo

Like a scythe in a field full of briars
She was angry. So, so angry.

She had to exert her self-control to keep her fingertips from bursting into crackling light. It wasn't good for the telephone.

"May I speak to Mr. Howard?"

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	hellfireprince 2010-09-09 12:55 am UTC (link)
	Julian is leaving the carnage of Emma's penthouse when he recognizes Giovanna's number on the phone. Paulo must have routed her through. He doesn't need more bad news, but he does want news of Andrew, so he answers. "Giovanna? Are you all right? Is Andrew okay?" Julian asks tentatively. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	burnwithlight 2010-09-09 01:13 am UTC (link)
	"He's well. No immediate danger." Emphasis on 'immediate', but to Giovanna, there always was. "There are some things I would like to discuss when you are available." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hellfireprince 2010-09-09 01:29 am UTC (link)
	"It just so happens that I'm available now. Where would you like to meet?" he asks. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	burnwithlight 2010-09-09 01:44 am UTC (link)
	She named the same establishment where he'd first met Andrew properly. "I can be there in twenty minutes." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hellfireprince 2010-09-09 01:51 am UTC (link)
	"I'm on my way now. Just ask for me and we'll have a private table." Julian says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	burnwithlight 2010-09-09 02:13 am UTC (link)
	Having made reasonably sure that Andrew would be all right reading for a while, Gio headed straight over, fury still pounding in her ears. She did her best to keep calm, or feign it, but there's green flickering in her eyes when she joins him. "Hello, Julian. Sorry to disturb you." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hellfireprince 2010-09-09 02:24 am UTC (link)
	"You're not disturbing me at all, Giovanna. You look wonderful, as always." he says, offering her a smile. "Now, what's happened? You sounded angry over the phone. What can I do to help?" he asks. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

burnwithlight
2010-09-09 03:14 am UTC (link)

"I don't know. I just couldn't burden Andrew with going on about this. Some American senators have been raising 'security issues' to interfere with our efforts to meet people. We can tell they're using various kinds of leverage against the people we've been getting to see reason. They're trying to undo every inch of progress we've made in the past year." She snarls. "Which wasn't much, but that's trench warfare for you." Giovanna much preferred the cavalry charge when it came to figurative military envisionings, but Andrew really believed they had a chance to do this by the rules, and she wanted so badly to believe with him.

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hellfireprince
2010-09-09 03:44 am UTC (link)

"I'd heard a bit of something regarding allowing certain individuals into meetings. And by 'certain individuals', I heard they meant anyone with mutant powers." Julian says, annoyed and disgusted. The sheer ignorance of some humans was mind-boggling.

"Do you know what Senators are behind this at all? If you could give me a name, I could check with a few of my contacts and see if maybe there's a way to gather some support for Andrew." Julian says, thinking over the new files he'd just received from his sources.

If there was anything he could use to help Andrew, he would so.

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burnwithlight
2010-09-09 04:20 am UTC (link)

"It's the lies that I especially can't get over," Giovanna growls. " 'Concerns about possible links to the Mutant Liberation Front or recent rumored incidents in Providence. The Mutant Liberation Front? How dare they make an accusation so absurd. IF F-" Giovanna catches herself starting to raise her voice too much. Her eyes are blazing, whether one refers to the blue eyes themselves or the flickering green veil that's starting to radiate out of them.
So she thinks, then speaks very carefully and very, very quietly. "If our fathers thought such actions needed to be taken, they would not entrust them to People Like That."

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hellfireprince
2010-09-09 04:36 am UTC (link)

"You're right, they would not. They'd find people whom they could trust and give them specific, detailed orders. You say these senators are accusing Andrew of conspiring with the Mutant Liberation Front? Perhaps they need to see the replay from the Statue of Liberty where Andrew nearly killed himself fighting one of them." Julian says.

"Calm down, Giovanna. Destroying this place will not make you feel better. We need a plan of attack, so that we can get Andrew to where he needs to be." Julian tells her.

"First, we need to know who our enemies are. Then we'll find out what skeletons they keep in the closet and threaten to expose them if they won't play nice. We also need to build some support around Andrew so that there are people willing to stand up on his behalf." Julian tells her.

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burnwithlight
2010-09-09 05:04 am UTC (link)

"Yes. They would."
And she's good and sits ostensibly calmly now as she continues. "Oh, Sloane used some of the right diplomatic language, and didn't accuse Andrew directly, but the implication was definitely that there's some kind of obvious between them and our country, and if Andrew's not complicit it's because he's being naively left in the dark. I'll credit the man with the nerve to say it out loud, at least, instead of exercising some ridiculous rule that lets members anonymously ask for holds on various committee actions, like many of them have. It's in keeping with his idiocy of the past year."

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hellfireprince
2010-09-09 05:20 am UTC (link)

"Sloane is a loathsome shell of a man, and that's the /best/ thing I can say about him. The problem is, he'd be hard to topple outright. We would be better off cutting his legs out from beneath him, so to speak." Julian says.

"If we get his supporters to change their minds, it will either neutralize him, or leave scrambling for a way to hold onto his power. If he's busy covering himself, then he can't oppose Andrew." Julian explains.

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burnwithlight
2010-09-09 05:43 am UTC (link)

She listens closely, and then nods and starts talking, quietly businesslike, informative, and still somehow a little intense.

It's not quite like talking business with Andrew; talking to Andrew always has many emotional levels. For one thing, she distinctly does not love the gentleman to whom she is talking beyond all reason. She barely knows him, by her usual standards. But there's something about his voice and attitude and carriage when they discuss things that makes it easier to trust him than she would otherwise. If she was feeling much less upset and much more self analytical, she'd try to figure out family resemblances and how much was psychosomatic, as it were. But she is, in fact, more angry than introspective.

"The junior senators of Florida and West Virginia seem to hang on his every word, and echoed his 'concerns' as much as they were willing to stand and raise their voices. The senior senator from California seemed to be more vaguely on his periphery, like he really didn't have anything to do with the whole business -- there was something in the way he stood when I saw him that made him seem a little confused and nervous -- but like he's apparently intrigued by what important points he's making." She snorts. "Meaning that in all likelihood, he's probably just as worthless, but a coward, too."

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hellfireprince
2010-09-09 06:10 am UTC (link)

"Then our targets are identified. The Junior Senators from Florida and West Virginia must be silenced, humiliated or cowed into into submission while the Senior Senator from California needs to be given a backbone. Once he has one, we may be able to get him to oppose Sloane." Julian says.

"Meanwhile, we're going to need to build a power-base for a couple of pro-mutant candidates to run upon and get them in the public eye." Julian says, pondering that idea. His current idea to build a few worthy political candidates hasn't been provided to the Hellfire Club yet, but perhaps Andrew and Giovanna can provide him with insight as to who he should or shouldn't be looking at.

"I'm going to start working on this today, Giovanna. We'll start by getting the right people to listen to Andrew and go from there." Julian says.

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burnwithlight
2010-09-09 08:30 am UTC (link)

"Hm. The former sounds closer to feasible than the latter. For a successful politician, he seemed so ...my English is failing me for a moment. Is the word 'henpecked'?"

Giovanna listens intently, then manages to smile wryly. "Once upon a time, you said you intended to stay out of politics as much as possible. Circumstances surprise us all. Me, I admit I'd have doubted what you're suggesting is possible right now if you didn't say it the way you just did."

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hellfireprince
2010-09-10 04:30 am UTC (link)

"Both are in the realm of possibility. We just need more time for the latter. I know I said that wanted to stay out of politics, but times are becoming ever more dominated by politicians and their decisions. As good as some of them can be, mutants /cannot/ afford to wait for humans to give us our rights and freedoms. We will never truly be understood by those who do not share our backgrounds and conditions.

We can't wait for humanity to /give/ us equality or rights. We must /take/ them by whatever means we have available, even if it means turning the very rules they use to deny us against them." Julian tells her.

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	burnwithlight 2010-09-10 04:40 am UTC (link)
	As Julian preaches to the choir, the vestry, and, to stretch the metaphor, the deacon's daughter, Giovanna listens and nods. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hellfireprince 2010-09-11 02:30 am UTC (link)
	"I'll contact you in two days and let you know what I can arrange. Please do not let Andrew know about this, Giovanna. I would like my contribution to the cause to remain anonymous, if we can agree on that." he says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	burnwithlight 2010-09-11 02:32 am UTC (link)
	She nods. "I can't lie to him. I just can't. But I'll avoid mentioning it, and there's no reason for him to ask it specifically." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hellfireprince 2010-09-11 04:54 pm UTC (link)
	"I would never ask you to lie to Andrew, Giovanna. I see that you care for him deeply, and there should be no secrets in any good relationship. But I do appreciate that you came to me about this. I've been working on ways to help Andrew recently, and I'm glad to put them into action." Julian says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	burnwithlight 2010-09-11 05:57 pm UTC (link)
	Giovanna nods. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	hellfireprince 2010-09-23 11:39 pm UTC (link)
	-(END)- (Reply to this)

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