friends like these

Tao mulls over the question, wishing he had a glass of something strong and smokey over ice to bring to his lips. But he has yet to unmask himself in front of the Hazards' newest recruit, and can do no such thing with the identity concealing headgear in place.

The mutation that allows Reuben to speak with animals is not necessarily the type of ability that Tao typically goes out of his way to add to his team. Any and all potential reconnaissance advantages are a net positive, of course, but he already has agents capable of gathering intel and going on offense or defense at the drop of a hat. Reuben can be trained to fight--and has shown promise--but he doesn't have the innate edge that, say, Pippa or Yusef have with their respective long range and defensive abilities.

That means, to effectively use and safeguard Reuben as one of his own, he has to stick him with another member of the team. Which is what Tao does with all new recruits initially--during their probationary membership--but is something he always hopes to do away with eventually. He wants to be able to send his people out individually when the mission calls for it, and to not worry that he is putting them in more danger than they are capable of defending against.

This is not to say that Tao hasn't had mutants similar--in one way or another--to Reuben in his ranks before. Rusty is a part of the Hazards with a largely support-based mutation, rarely ever stepping foot into active danger and only ever doing so with a capable escort; Marcus had been one of the founding members all those years ago with an ability that Tao only ever saw as a liability to himself and the rest of the team; Efren has to get into dangerously close contact with an enemy to use his fangs and claws, and that's often not worth the risk if there is more than one or two targets grouped together.

"Your gifts could prove to be invaluable when it comes to tracking down labs off the grid," Xerox finally posits through the voice changer built into his helmet. Rusty had programmed it in such a way that it sounds incredibly real, but at the same time, nothing like his unmasked voice: it's a good deal more orotund, more stentorian. "We've reason to believe there is one about twenty miles into the forest, relatively near to an old supposedly defunct hydroelectric power plant. I want to post you and a teammate"--Efren makes the most sense, though he certainly had considered going as well to keep an eye on him--"out there to see if you can get any information out of the local wildlife."

He dips a hand into a desk drawer and pulls out a crisply folded map of the area in question, laying it out on the barren desk top to show Reuben the potential zones of interest circled in chunky red marker and the old power plant X'd off in thinner blue marker.

Let it be said that Reuben had never wanted this job. Deep cover missions in violent organisations is not his area of expertise. But when the mutant who had been planned for this mission pulled out, the choice had been Reuben, or losing years of hard work and opportunity in one go.

He's sure his rushed deep cover training is going to come back to bite him in the ass. But even if this is worlds away from an assignment he WANTS, he still chose to do this. And Reuben is nothing if not determined to excel in whatever he chooses to do.

All he has to do is stick it out for long enough to gather information. Identities. Plans. Strategies. Modus operandi. He doesn't have to take action. He's not here to take the group down from the inside. He just has to gather information.

It sounds easy. He knows it won't be.

Reuben leans forward as Xerox speaks. Young, eager, idealistic. Words often used to describe him, at work, at university, at school. They’re not exactly a lie, or at least, they haven’t always been, but that doesn’t make them any less a mask he now wears.

His eyes skim over the map. He's memorising it as far as possible, mentally noting the areas that Tao thinks are interesting ---- but more importantly, Reuben is staring at it with narrowed eyes, assessing what kinds of local wildlife might be hanging around these areas. That's what matters right now.

He waggles his head side to side, a seesaw motion. "Yes and no. I can understand all animals, yes, and they can understand me, but at the end of the day they're still animals. Their brains just aren't that big. Smarter animals are definitely easier to have a sensible conversation with. No different to humans there."

"I do think taxonomy contributes too. I s'pose you could explain it---- if you put intelligence on the x-axis and taxonomy on the y-axis. Mammals are obviously the closest to us, so they're the easiest. Birds are alright. Reptiles and amphibians get a bit more fuzzy, and then I've never had much luck with fish, or insects. But then they're usually pretty low on both axis. So---" He shrugs, hands spreading wide. Grins, a little sheepish and a little crooked.

mainverse is the ‘base’ leo, his purest form. he’s pretty much mostly unaffected by any trauma in this verse, and the world is normal. he grows up with both his parents. (personality traits can be seen on his muse page)

endgame compliant leo is a bit quieter. he never knew tony but he has an older sister and a mom who suffered a lot. he’s a lot more protective, especially of his mom. he misses what he never had. he’s probably a bit more thoughtful, but can also be more bitter at times. he’s probably more responsible, and takes after pepper a bit more than he does in mainverse. he keeps his ambitions to go to space a lot quieter. probably never has anything to do with superheroics in this verse, though he still joins NASA

NA leo in the verse where he grew up with tony is more sarcastic and defensive, more of a thirst to prove himself, partly which comes from growing up with four powered siblings. he’s also even more of a peacekeeper. he’s still very much an explorer, always eager to learn new things. he’s not very good at dealing with his emotions and struggles a lot after tony’s death. 

20 QUESTIONS FOR MULTI-MUSE BLOGS! (accepting)

rory - there are lots of things rory could stand for. protection, loyalty, patience, family. but i’m gonna go with healing. his career is the one thing in his life he’s actively chosen, dedicated himself to, worked hard for. and it’s not just medicine, it’s healing, physical and emotional. he’s not just the god you pray to when you’re ill or injured, he’s the god you pray to when you need strength to help yourself heal.

reuben - languages. this one’s easy -- reuben’s power is linguistics based, speaking to animals, his job is to do with talking to people, getting information, his interests and talents are in languages and linguistics. it’s quite a niche area, nothing as broad as ‘communication’ but his blessing will help you learn languages and understand people better.

mollie - truth. it was tempting to make this time, in relation to her ability to freeze time, but it doesn’t really make sense for her character. and i haven’t really written mollie yet so i’m still working on her character but she’s someone who’s searching. partly her work, journalism, searching for an answer. partly for herself, searching for her place in her own life. so as a deity she’d be all about truth and honesty and being honest with yourself and other people and finding yourself. 

happy - this one was the hardest. loyalty? protection? friendship? they all fit him but they’re almost all too big for him. in the end i’m gonna say he’s the guardian god, of safeguarding and protecting. keeping people safe, whether it’s from external threats or from themselves.

leo - exploration and discovery. when i think about leo, he has two major interests which always stand out for me -- space and books. he has his father’s desire to understand, to learn more. he’s always wanted to fly, to explore space, the final frontier. he’s got those starfleet feelings is all i’m saying. this boy will bless your five year missions.