---

---

---

---

"So nice Guin, I mean... That sort of thing would be amusing, but I would definitely win," Mary said with a bit of a smile in regards to a sort of competition revolving around gardening and such. She meant it for fun, since she had been raised around gardening and botany, even before she had discovered her powers, she had always been interested in plants and flowers. "I've been just messing with the garden, what I typically do generally... But over all I'm doing alright, I'm also hoping that next time you decide to fall from the sky try to do so away from the flower beds, I really do not want to have to fix things if you crash into them."

"I still find her extremely annoying why do we keep her around again?"

"Shut the hell up."

Suddenly there was a gust of wind nearby and Pietro appeared right by Guin and took a look at her armor, "Hey there Guina, what exactly are you up to? And what did Mary mean when she said falling from the sky?" he asked her, raising a bit of an eyebrow at her as he pulled a Twinkie out of his pocket, unwrapped it, and started eating it while he waited for her to answer his question.

"She was just testing out her armor Pietro, she really just needs to work a bit on her flying that's all, practice makes perfect," Mary told him with a bit of a shrug as she walked over to the main path and out of the flower bed, thinking about what sort of thing to do now.

---

---

Mira looked up when she heard Ed's voice and shrugged slightly in response. "Don't worry, you're fine, I mean, at least you think to go outside to smoke. You can always tell when Wolverine is around since the air inside the mansion smells of cigar smoke. The Professor typically argues with him over it, as does Hank, but he still does it anyway, sadly you kind of get used to it though. Since no one wants to get into a fight with Wolverine let me tell you... Or have to deal with a training session with him for that matter," she commented quietly towards him.

She had never really talked to Ed before about anything, he had only really been at the mansion for the past few weeks really, and since she typically spent time in the electronics lab, in her room, or maybe in the library playing D&D, she had never really talked much to him. "You get used to a lot of things around here, not sure how much stuff you were told about what goes on around here before you decided to come to the mansion. You get used to everything, from cigarette smoke, having downtime, getting to know people, and the mansion potentially blowing up around you, I mean... Everything is just sort of crazy, and you get used to everything."

---

---

He just shrugged slightly when several people asked how he had been doing lately. This was one of the main reasons why he hadn't really wanted to leave his room and just wanted to hide in there and maybe no one would notice that he was back at the mansion, however it was impossible, that much was obvious. Especially when you had Guin for a friend, since she didn't really tend to want to leave people alone and he figured she probably thought something was wrong with her. Well in truth she probably wouldn't be too far off with that, but he never was going to admit that to her, or anyone else for that matter.

"I'm fine, just sort of tired, but that's about it," he commented, saying nothing else in response to her when he watched Bethany read a letter or something that had been with the game, and her response to it. "What's wrong?" he asked her, before she held out the letter for everyone else to examine and look at it. "...Wait a minute... Loki? What the hell does Loki gain out of this whole thing? Also way too many people, I thought Jumanji was a 4 player game, so why are there six pairings? I mean, guess he could make it have more players or something... But this is just... Really really weird on so many levels..."

---

---

Guin snickered a bit as Mary declared herself the winner over Elizabeth in an imaginary gardening competition - with not a single objection from Elizabeth. "So you're going to win by cheating then? What about a competition without powers?" Guin suggested. She didn't doubt that Mary could grow flowers without her abilities, but at the same time, it would have been more entertaining a challenge if Mary didn't just instantly send her flowers into a full spectacular bloom with the wave of a hand. Maybe another approach would be to get Mary drunk first - would that be enough of a handicap to give Elizabeth a fighting chance?

Her husband whizzed on over, apparently having overheard Mary scolding Guin for falling out of the sky. His shoes had some sand and water on them - he probably had been off running on water again or posing for pictures with girls at the beach. She rolled her eyes slightly. "It was just a routine flight test - and I have to say, it worked perfectly," Guin said with a grin.

"What a convincing lie, boss."

Guin hit her hand against the side of her helmet. "Shut it, F.R.I.D.A.Y., or I'll kill you and make it look like an accident."

"And here you always got mad at me for threatening PHIL's life all the time."

She shrugged. "It's called growth? Also F.R.I.D.A.Y. deserves to be threatened sometimes, I think the fear motivates her to be a better AI. P.H.I.L. didn't deserve it though - well, I mean, yes my dad did program him to be mean to you so I guess he did in the end, but I didn't know that at the time... Anyways how was the beach? Did you photos with your adoring public?"

"Eh, wasn't at the beach long, I don't care too much for the summer sun and all, problem is I also don't care for the cold all too much, so I just keep moving around places and all. Being there wasn't too bad though," he responded to her with a shrug.

"Too bad you didn't bring your wife, I've got a bitchin' new bikini," Guin teased.

"You seemed busy," he pointed out with an eye roll, since she had clearly been doing something since she now was doing tests with her armor.

"Well, how about you make it up to me by making ice cream sundaes with me?" Guin suggested. "And then we could watch Avatar?"

"Sure, sounds like a plan to me."

"You two wanna come make ice cream sundaes too? The secret is to add a shot of fireball whiskey at the end," Guin said to Mary and Elizabeth. She really enjoyed having ice cream with a kick and even if Pietro couldn't get drunk, she figured the taste of the cinnamon was enough to make it worth it for him. If not though, he could always just skip adding the shot.

---

---

Neil hesitated, not sure if he could tell Carolina what he had been up to. Sara had freaked out and abandoned him when she saw his family's rituals and practices - he couldn't take his best friend doing the very same thing so soon. He looked at Carolina for a moment, before nodding slightly. He couldn't hold Carolina accountable for something Sara had done. And friends didn't keep secrets...right? He gulped a bit, before forcing the words to spill from his lips. "I was, uh, doing a cord cutting ritual... My auntie sent me the instructions for it, it basically helps you get over break-ups and all... L-like let's say you had a friend who you didn't want to be friends with anymore, y-y-you could use it to sorta end that friendship and move on." He didn't realize why he was stammering at first - that it was out of fear that Carolina might turn around and use the cord cutting ritual on him.

There was an awkward pause as Neil just sort of stared at Carolina, trying to judge her reaction. "But um I finished that so... Was there something you wanted to do?" he asked, awkwardly shuffling towards the door. It was an attempt to get them onto some new location and to keep Carolina from getting ideas about using the ritual to end their friendship. He didn't have a reason to doubt her, he was just emotionally messed up from Sara leaving him over his family and he was scared everyone would do the same now.

---

---

---

---

Iris didn't try in the slightest to hide her grin as Annie nabbed a small handful of her pecans. She'd made them to share, so if they ended up being a total bust, it'd be kind of a bummer. She turned her back on Annie and Beth, opening and closing a few cupboards. She still wasn't used to the size of the mansion, and, for the most part, hadn't a clue where things went. Eventually, when she couldn't find a bowl, she settled on grabbing out a random coffee mug, which she proceeded to fill with the candied pecans. As she did so, she glanced up to see Lance. When he asked what was going on, she took out her joint and held out the mug full of pecans to him.

"Not much, just candied pecans. Want some?" she offered before realizing his attention was more on the strange mystery package rather than her culinary masterpiece. She pulled the mug back a little, but not so much that people would be uncomfortable taking some of the pecans. "Oh, and Beth has a weird box." When Beth pulled a letter out of the box, Iris raised an eyebrow, watching as the letter passed from hand to hand. When it eventually landed in hers, she read it. When she did, she couldn't help but break out into a mischievous smile.

"Oh man, Mira's gonna be pissed," Iris commented, a throaty chuckle spilling from her mouth. The name 'Loki' was familiar to her, though she only knew he was the Norse god of mischief, not that he was a supervillain, or even real. "So do we know who this Loki guy is? Not the actual god, I presume. And what's a Jumanji? Is it like Monopoly, because I should probably tell y'all that I've never played. I mean, I try, but every time I just end up playing make believe with the pieces. The Monopoly dog's name is Nina, by the way, and she likes to shit in her elderly owner's ferns. In case anyone ever wondered."

---

---

Ed considered that it seemed like this was the most Mira and he had ever exchanged. Pleasantries and passing comments had so far been their only source of conversation. He assessed Mira as she spoke. She was smart, and he grinned at her own assessment of living in the Mansion.

"I've lived with a lot of people all my life. This is comforting to me honestly. The bustle and the tensions and the chaos. It is more like my own home than a quiet apartment somewhere. Though I've lived in a few of those here and there, they were never home. Always just a waypoint." He took a drag from the cigarette.

In the recent months, Ed had withdrawn from human connection so while part of him wanted to ask Mira a few questions about herself, like how had she come to join the x-men he decided against it. That smacked too much of trying to make friends. He decided for a more neutral approach that while still friendly would leave both of them safe from opening up too much. Mira was young, as were all the X-men, but she had a bright future. If the hatred of mutants would calm down enough to give her a chance to shine.

"Which do you prefer?" It seemed like a safe enough question, one that could be answered with one word or if she desired more explanation. After that, she could choose to continue the conversation or go back to what she was working on.

---

---

Elizabeth paused for a moment at Mary's question. The winter would kill her plants for sure, so all she could think to say is, "Sometimes, the beauty in something is that it has an ending." She was proud of herself for that one. She knew she couldn't strictly compete with Mary, but hey, giving up like that never did anyone any good. She did suspect that Mary might be a bit lost if not for her powers though, but she didn't know how good she actually was.

Meanwhile, while she'd love nothing more than crush her in a anime style garden competition, ala food wars, there were sundaes on the line, and she couldn't not get one. Turning to face Guin, she smiled at the new suit, and wiped some of the sweat from her forehead, "It's not that hot out, come down to Texas sometime, you'll see a real scorcher. But..." She trailed off, "Ice cream does sound really good. Yes please!" Glancing over at Mary, she smiled, and said, "We'd have to see who's the better gardener, sans powers, I'm sure I could at least give you a run for your money." She teased, always one for competition.

---

---

---

---

Carolina looked at Neil as he explained the little ritual that he had been doing, he was doing it in order to try and get rid of the memories that he had of Sara to get over their relationship. "Want me to call my sister she could lock up Sara for you in the Raft or something? You saw her at Guin's wedding, i'm sure she wouldn't mind locking her up for you." Carolina said giving Neil a smile to try and cheer him up a little bit. She didn't know to much about the whole magical and occult stuff like her girlfriend October did, Carolina gave Neil a slight smile realizing that she was probably blocking his way to get out of his room and stepped out into the hallway.

"My girlfriend October and you would have gotten along pretty well together I think, she really liked all of that stuff." Carolina said as she looked over at him, she didn't mention to much about her only Annie really knew about October. She had even met her in the House of M reality that Wanda had created. "Need help planning the next DnD campaign or something?" Carolina offered, figuring that he'd like to do something that he really liked doing, and Carolina enjoyed the sessions he ran as well to.

---

---

---

---

Bethany looked at Lance and gave him a slight shrug. "I have no clue at all why he sent this." She said all she did was finding the box just outside the door of the mansion. She turned to stare at Iris blankly, everyone knew who Loki actually was, hell she even met his brother Thor both at Guin's wedding and when Galactus tried to have the Earth as a midnight snack. "You DO realize that Loki was the one behind the Chitauri invasion in New York back in 2012 right? NOT to mention that you also met Thor not once but TWICE, when Galactus tried to eat the Earth for dinner, and officiated Guin and Pietro's wedding?" Bethany said shaking her head slightly really feeling bad for Mira having to be paired up with her, like seriously the Asgardians were actually real and not myth at all.

"Just uh go look for the others i'll find Mary, and don't mess with the box either." Bethany said snatching the letter rather quickly and nodded towards Annie mentioning where Mary was actually, which wasn't to far of a stretch since Mary spent a whole lot of time there as well. Bethany then closed her eyes and as she melded into the shadows and disappeared from sight. It didn't take to long as she appeared right in front of Mary, seeing Pietro, Elizabeth and Guin there as well which made things easier. "Hey, guys you know Loki right? He kind of sent us a present it's in the kitchen right now." Bethany said as she handed the letter over to Mary.

---

---

---

---

Antoinette enjoyed her pecans immensely and watched Iris look for the bowls when she settled on grabbing a mug instead. She watched Iris pull out a joint and eyed it curiously but didn’t comment on it. She knew Iris was a little more open with her drug usage than most people and was more of a free spirit. It was what Antoinette liked about her so much. She looked back at Bethany when she cornered Iris about her limited knowledge on Loki. She had to agree that 2012 was a big event, the whole world as far as she knew had heard about it. She looked at Iris and shrugged. ”He’s very real, in every sense and just as powerful as his brother Thor but in other ways,” Antoinette said a bit more gently.
She watched Bethany fade away into the shadows, presuming to go and tell Mary just what was going on. Antoinette walked closer to the board, eating the last candied pecan she had in her hand and studied the board closely. It had been some time since she had seen the original movie but if Loki was planning this game for them it probably wouldn’t be exactly the same. She reached out and brushed her fingers against the board, admiring the paint work and secretly hoping something would happen.

---

---

---

---

"You are talking to someone whose mom was a botanist, been around gardens and flowerbeds since before I even started school," Mary said towards Elizabeth with a bit of a laugh, "So pretty sure I'd still win, I only ever use my powers really if a plant looks like it's really about to die or if I want to show off and make the flowers bloom even if they are out of season. I prefer to do a lot of the work myself, it's kind of what I've done around the mansion since I showed up here around 10 years ago now that I think about it. But eh, who really knows, it would depend on conditions, the flowers and plants in the gardens, the weather as well as the locations for the flowerbeds. Since even a little bit of sunlight can make all of the difference."

She did know that she went on a bit of a ramble when it came to it, but it definitely was something she cared a lot about. Her mind wandered a bit more, before she noticed Bethany appear as if out of nowhere, figuring that odds were that she used her powers to pop up like that. "Wait what?" she said, going over and taking the letter from her and reading it over. "Well hell our lives can't ever be simple can they? Alright, get everyone you can find and get into the living room, and bring whatever that present was. You didn't exactly say what it was but knowing what I do know about Loki, odds are it is very dangerous especially since he quite clearly wants to just seriously mess with us or actually kill us based on this letter."

"So wait a second, Loki sent us a present that likely wants to kill us? Why does Loki want to kill us? Or is it just because he's bored?" Pietro said, snatching the letter and reading it, before showing it to Guin. "And to think that for once the day had been going so well without someone trying to kill us."

---

---

"I mean, this is certainly better then where I grew up initially," she responded quietly, thinking for a moment, "Ek het in Wakanda grootgeword," she said, switching to her native tongue before realizing what she said, "That is to say, I grew up in Wakanda, and for a while at least, they were not too kind to mutants or people really with abilities, though that has gotten better in recent years, which is nice. Though pretty sure some people still don't care too much for people with abilities... I mean when I first showed signs of my powers I might have seriously injured someone by accident."

"The chaos is nice, though sometimes it makes things difficult to actually do anything aside from deal with what's going on, nothing is ever so simple," she added with a shrug, before looking back towards her computer, "Also here you can learn just how dangerous your powers can be... If you don't have complete control over them. For instance I'm sure you know Neil, did you know that he has a hearing aid and I'm the one who made it so that he needed it in the first place?" she said, not looking over at him. Mira figured that it would probably be best not to mention the over a hundred OMEN agents that her screech had killed during that incident.

---

---

"When most people think of Jumanji, they think about the movie that came out in the 90s, great movie by the way... I first think of the book though, which I read before watching the movie... Actually it was a pretty decent adaptation of the book... Anyway that's besides the point, the way it typically works is you roll the dice, your game piece moves on it's own, the crystal orb in the center of the board has a riddle appear in and then whatever the answer to the riddle was is the thing you face. Since everything that appears in that orb comes to life, it is a dangerous game and you can most definitely be killed playing it..." Lance explained, before he walked over, grabbed Annie's arm and pulled her away from the board.

"I'm with Bethany, do not touch the damn thing until everyone else is here," he said instantly to her, before letting her arm go. "The instant those dice are rolled, the instant those pieces end up in play, you can't stop until someone's piece reaches the center of the board, only then can everything go back to normal. But since this is sent by Loki and we have super powers I seriously doubt it's going to follow all of the conditional rules that it did in the book and movie. That's just my guess, but no, no one touch a damn thing before everyone else gets here, alright?"

Though there was a slight tint of green the was starting to creep up a little bit on his hand and arm that the others would be able to see. He had gotten better about controlling the emotions that triggered his transformation, but considering how horrible the past few months had been for him, it was pretty hard for him to keep his emotions fully in check. Lance was taking deep breaths trying to remain calm.

---

---

Edus had heard of Wakanda. He knew it was a third-world country. He also knew there were rumors about it having some advanced technology. Ed wasn't sure how much he believed that, but he wasn't about to ask Mira if it were true. That seemed rude, and Ed did his best not to be rude. "I did know about his hearing aid, but I had never asked if it was genetic or an accident. That is unfortunate." Ed thought back to his childhood and learning how to deal with his power.

"One of the spells I know can hurt people. When we were kids, the cousins would all play fight with the force spell. I once broke my cousin's leg. We never got along after that." How unfortunate that Lucas was one of the few survivors of the attack on Cardiff, he thought. "I don't' entirely blame him for not forgiving me since even with my sister trying to heal it, he has had a pronounced limp since then." He winced at the memory, at the image of his sister, and took a long drag from his cigarette. It was time to change the subject or move on. This was getting too personal.

"I think training and education about powers are important. Learning how to control what some people are capable of is hard, but for the world to become safe, it is an important aspect of what needs to be done. I am impressed by what Xavier has accomplished here"

---

---

Guin rolled her eyes as Elizabeth dismissed the heat. "One, why would I want to go to Texas? It's one of the anti-mutant hotspots in the United States. And two, it's always going to be hotter somewhere, so I don't really care if this isn't hot by Texas standards?" she said a bit bluntly. She never liked the entire oh X isn't bad, you should see Y! It basically just invalidated people's experiences. It was like saying you can't be sad, someone else out there has it worse than you. If Guin felt like it was hot, then it was hot - period. She wasn't going to write a scientific article about how hot it was, so she didn't need to slap a qualifier on there.

Bethany then blipped in out of nowhere and Guin blinked a bit. That was a bit hard to get used to. Her skin paled slightly though as Beth explained her sudden appearance - Loki. Scenes from the news footage of the Battle of New York flashed through her mind. Her father had gone up through a wormhole and he almost hadn't made it out the other side - he almost died. That had been a little over nine years ago - she had just been a little kid, but the scar of almost losing her father had contributed greatly to her teen angst and drug abuse. "The son of a bitch is here for me," Guin explained. "He's taking revenge on my dad for the Battle of New York. What a fucking ass... But whatever. If there's one thing I know about that bastard, it's that the L in Loki is for Loser."

---

---

Neil laughed slightly at Carolina's offer. He wasn't a super uptight, optimistic, positive, and idealistic person - the sort that would have gasped and protested at that thought. No, if Neil's heart still wasn't tender towards Sara, he probably would have asked Carolina if her sister also doubled as an assassin in her spare time. "That sounds nice," he told her. "But I feel like your sister probably wouldn't lock her up there... which sucks." Though it wasn't like he saw Sara around now anyways, so he could very well just imagine Sara was locked up at the Raft. He tilted his head slightly as Carolina mentioned her girlfriend.

"Y-you have a girlfriend?" he asked, his heart wincing - it was hard to see people in love and in relationships at the moment for him. "Th-that's cool. I didn't know. Umm... Sure. I found one online that I printed off, but I could use help drawing out maps and character images for it... I think it's more fun that way if they're hand drawn and real looking..." He didn't really know if that was something Carolina would be interested in doing. Some people just used a battle map and called it good, but Neil loved being able to draw the scenery or little snapshots of the places they were at - pictures were worth more than a thousand words.

---

---

---

---

Carolina smiled a bit seeing Neil laughing a bit at her offer, though she was pretty sure that Cass wouldn't abuse her power like that at all either which really did suck as well. "Or I could go all poltergeist on her as well to if you'd like." She said jokingly, when Neil mentioned her girlfriend she looked sad for a moment. "She uh passed away, a few years ago actually, when OMEN was a thing we bumped into two agents there and they attacked us on our way to a town called Coventry. When Wanda made her alternate reality her and I were married to." Carolina said softly, she still did blame herself for her death even though October said that it wasn't her fault that it happened either.

She wasn't sure why she had brought up that either, and shook her head slightly feeling like she was rambling or something to Neil. "But I made my peace with it though anyway." Carolina nodded she certainly didn't mind helping with helping with Neil with the drawings or anything like that. "Sounds good to me, let me grab some of my supplies then and we can do it in the living room or something." Carolina said as she turned and made her way over towards her and Annie's bedroom.

---

---

---

---

"The game is Jumanji if any of you guys remember that, or seen the movies as well." Bethany said giving a slight shrug she didn't really think that it was all that important really at the moment and nodded towards Mary. "Sounds good to me then." Beth said looking at Guin for a moment thinking that he was here because of her and gave a slight shrug Beth didn't really know why Loki would want to try and kill everyone because of New York just to get back at Guin for her father for saving the world. "The game is in the kitchen currently, with Iris Lance and Annie right now I told them not to mess with it though, we'll move it to the living room though." Beth told her as she looked around before spotting both Mira and Edus there on the far side of the gardens talking to one another and grabbed the letter again.

Beth turned and started to make her way over towards the two of them, she looked at the two of them for a moment Beth wasn't sure what they were talking about at the moment. "Hey, we got a game night with Loki you two kind of have to go." Beth said as she showed the two of them the letter, she knew that Mira really wouldn't like the fact that she was paired up with Iris she would have gouged out her ears and eyes rather than work alone with her.

---

---

---

---

Iris pulled her head back in surprise when Beth immediately went off on her. She knew the girl was a bit of a grump, but she had assumed she'd have had a longer fuse. Iris had heard about the Chitauri invasion, though not in any great detail. All she had heard was some aliens attacked New York, and a lot of people died, a single-sentence summary that had been given by the guy who ran the general store her mom and her often resupplied at. Iris opened her mouth to reply to Bethany, but before she could, the girl vanished. Iris' lips clamped closed in what was neither a smile nor a frown, though it quickly shifted to her normal up-to-something grin when Annie carried on with Beth's explanation in her normal, sweetly spoken manner.

"Huh...I sort of always assumed that Thor guy was just, like, really into his character," she commented, giving a half shrug, before her eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, if we know that those gods are real, why do other religions still exist?" As she asked the question her eyes flicked between Lance and Annie, hoping one of them would have something to say on the topic. As her gaze switched between them, her eyes eventually caught sight of Lance's arm, with green crawling up it. She tried not to visibly react, but she forced her breath to slow, taking deep, steady breaths, much like the ones used in her breathing exercises with the boy, in an effort to help him stay calm.

---

---

Elizabeth was about to protest, that not all of Texas was full of racists and bigots, and that acting like it was just wasn't helpful. She was from there, of course, and while it had problems, parts of it at least kinda okay, namely Austin. That was before Bethany teleported in out of nowhere, and she had other things on her mind. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" She exclaimed, startled, as she took a few steps back. She still wasn't used to that kind of thing, but it was at least getting better. As she started to explain, things she turned her head. "Loki? Like... Thor's Godly evil brother?" She asked. Working in the realm of the Gods and Heroes was still new to her, and felt very unreal.

She'd seen Jumanji before, as a little kid, though she preferred Zathura, something about space was just cooler than jungle adventures. One question rang through her head though, "I'm not totally clear, why would we play Loki's Obvious Death Trap Game 2k21?" She asked, raising her eyebrows a bit, "Not that I don't want to, it sounds fun and all, but it seems massively dangerous." A very dumb part of her was excited to play with the magic board game that would her life in danger, but the part of her brain that has some modicum of self control told her that is was a very bad idea.

---

---

---

---

Antoinette was mildly surprised when Lance walked over and pulled her arm away from the board. It was rather forceful, at least, more forceful than she was used to when it came to friends. She watched him closely for a moment nodding slowly. ”I have no doubt that Loki has altered the true game to something that would fit us more.” She looked back at the game board, watching it closely. ”Although, it still will be fascinating to see what he designed.” Antoinette couldn’t help her curiosity. It was one of the many reasons why she liked to travel so much. To seek out new things and learn.
Antoinette looked over at Iris and giggled a little when she spoke of Thor just being really into his character name. ”Multiple religions will always exist. And the world has seen Thor and Loki. Those two haven’t saved the world. Thor tries his best but he hasn’t given the people salvation. That is what I think humanity looks towards, a salvation, forgiveness. Something better than what they have right now. Besides, a lot of people fear death and there being nothing after. They want something to believe in to keep on going,” Antoinette said with a slight smile.
She looked over at Lance, watching the colour change on his skin. ”Have you tried some of Iris’s pecans? They are quite good,” Antoinette said, hoping to distract Lance and she wasn’t about to point out what was happening.

---

---

---

---

"Guina you also realize your dad isn't the only one to have pissed off Thor's brother, pretty sure there is a long list of people, and yeah, most of the people are Avengers. I mean he's probably annoyed with not just your dad, but last I checked Lance's dad actually threw the guy around, and Loki always hated his brother Thor, plus pretty sure he hates the other Avengers, so why do you think it would just be about you? Thought I'd ask that one," Pietro told her bluntly with a bit of an eye roll.

"I mean, are there any other Loki's that you know about?" Mary said towards Elizabeth with a shrug. "Not to mention the note says that if we don't he'll probably start killing people, or at least it seems implied. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to take that chance to see if he doesn't, so let's just go see what sort of chaos is awaiting us and let's hope that nothing goes horribly wrong, but knowing our luck it will all go wrong within five minutes, so let's get going."

"Ooooooooh this day just got really interesting. Wonder if we can finally have a few members of the group who are insanely annoying killed off during this. Since I'm all for starting the game and just stopping right in the middle after someone who I really don't like dies. But that's just me."

"Okay, just shut up since we'd all be stopped there forever and probably eventually just die, since you clearly don't understand how this likely is going to work," Mary responded to the little voice in her head as she headed inside of the mansion from the garden and headed inside, making her way to the kitchen now to see what everyone else there was doing.

---

---

"...Sorry," he muttered to Annie. "And yeah Loki is real, Asgardians are real, hooray they actually exist the fact that you didn't know that was weird. I mean seriously, you have encountered aliens, is it really that surprising that Asgardians are real? All you had to do was ask, not to mention no one would create that sort of character, like seriously, based off of a Norse god? Doesn't make sense at all, so how about we move on a little bit from the fact that someone apparently didn't know Asgardians were real."

He didn't really mean to snap or sound annoyed, but his emotions weren't exactly the best, and hadn't been for a while. Hence why he seemingly was snapping at just about anyone and everyone over dumb things and getting overly annoyed. The green tint to his skin seemingly dissipated, going back to normal, but he wasn't really looking at anyone else really now, but footsteps could be heard coming towards them and he looked up in time to see Mary pop up in the doorway.

"Guessing that's the game that Bethany was going on about? The one that Loki sent us?"

"Yeah, seems like it..."

"Grab the box and bring it into the living room, Bethany went to go see about getting the others to show up or whatever, and we're meeting up over there," she said, before she left the room.

Lance shut the box, before he picked it up and started heading to the living room. "Sorry for snapping... Let's just get going and hopefully deal with this thing somewhat quickly..."

---

---

"I mean, it depends on your perspective... Like I mentioned before, not like we don't sometimes have a target painted on our back, since the mansion likes to explode way too often. It's at least a yearly thing it seems like," she commented towards Edus with a shrug, before her attention was drawn by Bethany coming over to where they were and going on about Loki or something like that. A game or something? What on earth was she going on about? "What are you talking about?" she asked her, seriously confused.

Mira looked at the letter that was in her hands, regarding the entire situation. "Of course Loki sent a game that clearly sounds like it could kill us, this sounds like fun," she commented, before she looked farther down the paper and her body went a bit rigid when she saw the team pairings. "Shoot me now and make things easier for me and Iris can play the damn game herself, like hell am I going to work together with the walking disaster who knows nothing about anything. Seriously I swear a rock is freaking smarter then her!" she snapped, clearly more then a little annoyed at the idea of being paired up with Iris on anything. "Remind me why she's even allowed on the team? Since she doesn't ever seem to add anything to any situation and seems to make things worse from what I can tell."

---

---

Ed nodded that made sense. Of course, as they discussed how much chaos could happen in the Mansion Bethany walked over and informed them of the next round of chaos. Ed looked at the letter. At least for him, he was fine with the pairing. Annie was one of his more favorite people in the Mansion. She had picked up that he liked crows and had a few times let him know when they were active on the property. He gave Mira a look of sympathy as she ranted about being paired with Iris. He considered offering to exchange partners but what he knew enough about Loki to know that would be a really bad idea.

"Well. I suppose lead the way." Ed said to Bethany. He took a drag of his cigarette, careful to exhale away from either Bethany or Mira. Then put it out, it wasn't finished so he put what was left of it back in the pack. Ed put the whole pack in his pocket. "While this will be a more extreme version of any board game I played with my family I can say I'm okay at them." He tried to give off an air of confidence, which was oddly more possible around people as young as these. Gods he felt old, and he was only thirty. An old song line crossed his mind and he smiled at the memory.

---

---

"Damn, who knew that Loki was a cheap movie junkie?" Guin said with a laugh. Jumanji was having a resurgence lately, thanks to the Rock and Karen Gillian. Guin admittedly loved the video game concept that they had adapted in the new movies. One of her favorite animes was Sword Art Online. And of course, her favorite Spy Kids movie was the one where the kids were trapped inside of the video game and ran into their grandpa there. It was just such a fun concept, going from the real world to one made of pure fantasy. "And no, I didn't know that other people have made Loki upset, I'm just really unobservant and thick," she replied, sarcasm dripping from each and every word.

"Look, no one has made Loki as pissed as my dad has. The Hulk isn't even around right now, Banner's MIA. Loki isn't going to bother messing with Lance if Banner doesn't know what's going on, that's half the fun. So he's doing this to get back at my dad, knowing that my dad probably has a way to monitor everything going on here, so it can be emotional torture for him and physical for me." It was a logical and rational way for Guin to think of all of this - and of course, her ego and pride did feed slightly into it. Her family thought of themselves as the center of the universe. The only issue was, they were usually right about that.

She then headed inside with Mary, holding Pietro's hand and dragging him along.

---

---

Neil looked downcast, hearing that Carolina had suffered so much at the hands of O.M.E.N. He hadn't been at the school when O.M.E.N. tried to kill the X-Men. His only real experience with the organization was when they tried to take his cousin Rebecca away, accusing her (rightfully) of being a witch. His aunties had managed to handle it, but they started homeschooling Neil and his cousin afterwards. O.M.E.N. didn't care who they hurt in the name of keeping the world safe for normal people. Anyone who was different was a threat, a liability... He shuddered a bit, knowing that the current president was ex-O.M.E.N. He didn't know whether to believe if Jakobsen had changed or not.

No, Neil was actually certain he hadn't - he was sure that Jakobsen was the same old villain who killed innocent kids in the name of freedom.

"I'm so sorry that happened," he told Carolina quietly. "Maybe... Maybe there's a way we could bring your girlfriend back... I could ask my aunties for a spell." He knew necromancy was serious business, but if it made Carolina smile, it would be worth it. He got the feeling that Xavier wouldn't approve, but what the old man didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Neil followed his best friend down the hall, waiting outside the door to her and Annie's room, since he didn't want to intrude into her personal space.

---

---

---

---

Carolina stepped into her room and started to search around through her things, finding some colored pencils as well as some paper large enough to make their little battle map as well. Carolina opened the door again looking over at Neil and gave him a soft smile when he offered to try and bring her back. She went over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, Carolina knew that bringing back someone from the dead never turned out well at all for anyone especially in movies or tv shows. "Thank you for the offer and it's okay, the time that I remember with her in House of M where we were married made me happy to see her again. And i'll see her again someday as well." Carolina said and October did say to try and move on as well.

"Lets head to the living room shall we?" Carolina said, she turned and started to make her way down the hallway and down the stairs and into the living room. Carolina set some of the supplies down on the table and looked over to see Mary and Lance coming into the room seeing that there was a box on it as well. "What do you guys have there?" Carolina asked as she moved over to get a better look at the box that Mary had with her just as Bethany came through the room as well.

---

---

---

---

Bethany turned to look at Edus as he started to put away his cigarette, she didn't really care for smokers another thing that she was annoyed her about Iris as well feeling bad that Mira was also paired up with Iris to. "You know that stuff is going to give you cancer right?" Bethany said, jokingly like she could actually tell him what to do anyway he was twice her age as well to as Bethany made her way back into the mansion and saw Carolina there looking at the Jumanji game box that was there. Bethany walked over and sat down on the chair and handed the letter over towards Carolina.

"Loki sent this over to us, and we kind of don't really have a choice in the matter either." Bethany said, she didn't mind that she was paired up with Mary they did work pretty well together anyway as well. "So this should be kind of fun I guess." Bethany said as she leaned back slightly waiting for the others to come into the room as well so that they could get this game done and over with as well.

---

---

---

---

Iris gave a nod of agreement when Annie delved into the topic of religion and its perseverance even in the face of alternative evidence. It was an clever analysis, but when Iris opened her mouth in order to discuss further, Lance, seemingly out of nowhere, began to chew her out. Her gaze shifted to him, eyes wide as he tore into her, her lips curling into a frown. It was clear from her expression that she seemed hurt. She would have expected that sort of disapproving rant from Mira or Bethany, what with how open in their abhorrence of her they were, but she'd come to think of Lance as a friend, even if he was too emotionally closed off to reciprocate. After a few moments, though, the hurt expression seemed to fade. Whatever it was that angered him, she got the feeling it wasn't her. As he apologized to her, Iris' frown softened into a small, comforting smile.

"It's cool dude, you seem like you've got a lot on your mind," she softly said, putting her joint back between her lips before lightly patting Lance on the back. After a moment or two, she pulled her hand back and instead stuck her mug out to him. "Y'know, my mom always says that nothing sooths a troubled soul quite like a candied pecan. Though to be fair, she says that about a lot of things," she offered, following him and Marygold out the kitchen and in the direction of the living room.

---

---

---

---

Antoinette smiled softly at Lance when he tried to apologize but then he switched again and snapped at Iris. She watched Lance curiously, trying to gage if he was so on edge because of his father or if it was something else entirely. He was gone from the mansion often and rarely talked to anyone. In fact, this was the most Antoinette had heard Lance speak in months. She wasn’t even sure he was talking to Guin all that much.
Antoinette just smiled softly at Lance again and shook her head. ”Our emotions are our own and we must express them how we feel we need to.”
She looked over when Mary entered the room and Antoinette smiled at her before they were all led out of the kitchen and to the living room to meet up with everyone. Antoinette beamed when she saw her best friend and dashed over to sit next to her, even if it was a bit squished.
Bethany handed Carolina the letter and Antoinette read it over again. ”It’s a game, presumably like the old one but more than likely with a few twists,” she noted. She was sad Carolina wasn’t going to be her partner in this but she did like Ed. He had a kind soul and a curious mind.