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Callie turned her attention over towards Esme and nodded towards her she was surprised that the mutant was actually willing to accept her help. "Sounds good to me then, I guess i'll see you later and we can hash things out then." Callie said as she watched Mystique and Destiny leaving the Grove, and Sinister and Selene were talking about fashion amongst each other, while Magneto and Polaris talked to each other as well. "See you later James, and good luck with finding the kid." Callie said as she waved towards James when Veil spoke to her turning her attention towards her friend.

It did feel very weird and crazy that only a few months ago they were still living in the mutant underground and were busy fighting against X-Cutioner and nodded towards her. "Honestly I didnt even expect to be waking up and given a position in the Quiet Council, everything feels really different now." Callie said as she started to think of all the people that they had lost up until now, and sighed slightly before turning her attention back towards Veil. "So what are your plans now anyway?" She asked her, it seemed like the meeting was over it felt like to her.

---

James waved goodbye as he and others left the Grove. His mind wandered as he found some time alone, thoughts of the festival predominate in the beginning. He’d never put together something this large so he’d have to rely on the experience of others to get by probably. It went without saying he’d have to get some idea of an outline and find people most interested in participating and asking what they would like to see and do but those were broad directions with lots and lots of little parts that James hadn’t even considered. But it couldn’t be any more difficult than trying to get a bunch of M-Pox riddled mutants out of a purifier raid while tear gas was pouring in from every direction, right?

James just shook his head at the thought. What had his life become that he was comparing setting up a festival to death defying escapes? But now they could put that behind them because they’d found somewhere that didn’t need people to protect them from Purifiers, didn’t need people to fight to provide them basic human rights, didn’t need people to shunt them from one run down safe house to another and damn, if that didn’t make James so incredibly happy. He hadn’t even been with the Underground for long―the others had been involved way longer―but the exhaustion that came with made it seem like it had been years. The constant struggle just to survive, not including keeping their wards alive and well, must have aged everyone well beyond their years.

But that was okay because they finally stopped running. James hadn’t really dared entertain the idea that they could actually have something stable but here he was, slowly building together that life he always thought he’d have. Maybe it isn’t back in the United States surrounded by familiar neighbors, friends, and family but here he was on his way to pick up the man of his dreams, go pick up their son, and take him home. He felt himself tear up at the little bubble of happiness that surged in his chest. It may not have been what he imagined (he highly doubted anyone could have imagined this) but he loved it all the same.

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Max couldn't help but melt and smile as he saw the love in Caspers eyes. It was clear that he meant what he'd said, which made Max roll his eyes in amusement. He lifted his left hand, what he'd heard called the hand of fate before, and booped his index finger onto Caspers nose. "If that's all you want, then you already have it Casper. I'm sure if you were to ask James to retire to Hawaii he'd agree to it in a heartbeat. Granted that there's no telepaths there to screw with his memories again that is." He began to pack up the cards, shuffling them quickly once more in order to get a fresh start. As he did, he began to ask himself a question. What does the future hold for Jack?

A card managed to slip out from the deck and land face down onto the table. Prompting Max to pick it up and see the results. He'd pulled this card once before, though before it was upright. Now it was upside down in his hand, loss or destruction peppering his thoughts. Max slipped the card back into the deck as if nothing happened, giving Casper a polite smile. "Like I said, still new. Gotta get used to shuffling these unwieldy things. So if you ever want more readings in the future I'd be glad to practice it out. Not like I know anyone here who could teach me."

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Harry snickered at Marrow's comment. He was beginning to see why Sunshine liked her. Granted he should've known they'd have Uhalued it. Sunshine didn't seem like the pining type and neither did Marrow. Nor were either quite Tsundere types. If Harry had to guess, they'd have met doing something no one would approve of in the Underground...well maybe save for Casper. There was very little that ghostling mutant didn't approve of. Andy's suggestion that Zari was ace definitely sounded logical. After all she seemed to have the range of a teaspoon. Though whether she was Aro or Ace was yet to be determined. "Being Ace isn't a bad thing anyhow. I dated an Ace person once. Sadly they wanted different things than I and so we called it off."

Harry leaned against the table almost as if looking back at the memories. "A lot like having a best friend really. Could also have a QPR, or even a romantic relationship so long as you understand each other's boundaries. Casper for example I doubt has any boundaries. While I have a select few. But if you two haven't discussed this yet then we shouldn't be prying. Right, Sunshine? Besides, maybe you could matchmake for me instead. It'll be just like in Mulan, beautiful, iconic, and disastrous. " He said, trying to move the subject and attention away from Andy and Zari and onto anything else. He feared if anymore blush ran into Andy's cheeks she'd pass out from lack of blood to her brain.

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Well, hearing a little bit about what cards were drawn by Max for Casper's reading was entertaining to say the least. Jack didn't care too much for fortune tellers or anything like that, and found the supposed "fortunes" that they spat out entertainment to say the least. Most of them were fake and not really able to see the future, at least most who got paid for that sort of thing. It was a little bit ridiculous in his mind how psychics typically got paid in order to do that sort of thing. Besides, not like they were actual "psychics" anyway or whatever.

Jack rolled his eyes slightly at Casper, "I'm positive Casper, I don't really think much of that sort of thing at all... Plus tarot readings as I said, I'm not really interested much in," he said with a bit of a shrug. Yeah, he didn't care too much about it, and he glanced over at Max as he decided to mess around with the cards some more and making some off hand comment about needing to learn about shuffling the cards or whatever, though it was a bit weird since literally no one had asked or commented on it or anything like that.

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Well, who knew that it was possible to make Zari even more confused on the situation. She had no idea what everyone was really going on about, but she did have an idea it involved romance or something like that. Personally, she never really paid much attention or thought about it. That sort of thing was a little strange to her, so she didn't think much of it. Though the words that people were tossing around with regards to this entire conversation is what confused her the most. It was beyond strange to her, and she was trying to think of how best to word her question carefully.

"Umm..." Zari muttered slightly, thinking for a little bit. Mr. Eyeball was beeping along right next to her, clearly understanding what was going through her head. Though the robot seemed to more or less be wondering what Zari was going to say in response to what everyone was saying in general. Usually she wasn't this quiet, at all, and usually started up with a barrage of questions. "I have a question..." she eventually said, looking at the group, tilting her head to the side, obviously confused, "...What does it mean to be ace?" she finally asked.

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She wasn't surprised that the entire meeting was more or less over fairly quickly of some sort. Though her mind still wandered to what Reeva had said about Stacey X setting up a sort of orphanage at Hellfire Manor. It reminded her of her own kids, both of which she couldn't exactly have been with them to help them grow up. Right now, she was more or less wondering about whether or not at the very least she might see about going to go aid the orphanage, helping out with keeping track of the children. It would give her something to do, and keep her mind from potentially wandering to other things that were bugging her.

After a few of the others had already started heading away from the Grove, Miranda started making her way towards Hellfire Manor. She wasn't too sure what the setup there was, but she figured there was a chance Stacey X might need an extra set of hands. Heading into the Manor, she found that the makeshift orphanage took over the second floor of the Manor, and that there were around 40 kids in all. It didn't look like it had the best structure wise, however the kids seemed to have all of the basics that they needed, food, clothes and beds and such like that. A few toys too. Eventually, she found Stacey X and walked up to her, "...Do you need help or an extra set of hands?" she asked her.

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Andy hadn't planned on dealing with this sort of conversation. But here it was. At least Sunshine was mostly letting it drop. She gave a shrug at the offer of Sunshine playing matchmaker. Andy considered herself bisexual, but really up to this point, she hadn't gone around dating much. She appreciated Harry trying to draw Sunshine's attention away from her. And then her heart sunk. Zari didn't know what it meant. She had feared this, but no one answered. So she took a deep breath.

"Okay...uh. I spent a few years growing up in California, they are really chill there, well at least where I was. Not so much in like the part of California near the Oregon border. Those guys are super religious. But in San Franciso, it's more chill. So this is what it has been explained to me as." Part of her education about sex had been in the dorms at Northwood, but she really didn't want to think about that time of her life. San Francisco was easier to think about.

"Imagine sexuality, in this case, sexual attraction to people as a spectrum. On one end you have people who will..uh... you know with anyone. They aren't picky. They can be pushy sometimes too if you're not careful." She shook her head thinking about the Folsom Fair and Bay to Breakers. Her foster parents had never actually let her go to either, but she knew enough.

"Then there are a whole lot of other types from there to Ace. A person who is ace doesn't experience sexual attraction. Like they can, in some cases I guess, still think someone is pretty. But to them, that's like art. Like the water lilies is a great painting but I don't want to have sex with it. Some of them are even sex-repulsed though. For whatever reason. Might be they just think it is icky or they have trauma. Or maybe they only like kissing and cuddling, and that fulfills their needs. Everything is a spectrum, no two people are going to be the same. And that's just sexual attraction." She really didn't want to get into gender.

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"I think we can go meet with the others, and then see if there's anything useful we can do," Veil suggested to Spark Plug. She imagined the others would be at least interested to know that James, Callie, and Veil had been made part of the Quiet Council, the ruling body of Genosha. Veil could've approached the opportunity with cynicism, but she had bought into the promise of Genosha - of a place where mutants could build each other up and work together to do great things. But at the same time, she had to try to push down and bury the fear that a massacre or a great tragedy could happen again - one that the island may not be able to survive.

She knew that the others would be at the Green Lagoon and Veil quickly realized that James was headed in that direction as well, but she didn't run to catch up to him. She figured Callie and her could go at a slower, more leisurely pace. She started walking to the Green Lagoon, going in sync with her friend. Her mind kept tossing and turning between ideas, almost all of them revolving around their new home. There was another subject she wanted to hear Spark Plug's thoughts on and she figured as they headed back, now was as good a time as any. "What're your thoughts on the X-Men having never come to Genosha?"

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Casper playfully tried to bite Max's finger after Max booped him on the nose. Ben rolled his eyes at Casper's antics, although the ghoul was having fun. He was getting to hear Dazzler sing and watch his friends be idiots - for a ghost, there wasn't much more that he could ask for. Well, aside from asking to be brought back to life, but he doubted that was going to happen anytime soon. Only the X-Men got to come back from the dead on the regular - and Jack, apparently. "No one else on the island can do tarot? Huh, I would've thought Selene might know how - she seems the type. It's a French thing and she's got that vague European appearance to her, with all the magicky type stuff. Do you think the Scarlet Witch can do tarot? She's European - Jackie, I know you hate tarot, but who else do you think could do it on the island?" Casper rambled.

He then stuck his head up, hearing Echo mention his name and something about boundaries. "What did I do this time?" Casper shouted. "If I was drunk, then I bet I was the life of the party, but tell me about these boundaries and... I'm assuming I broke them? I do tend to break things. You should ask my maman, I broke so many lamps growing up. And most of her heels. Those things snap sooo easily and you can't actually turn them into flats, fun fact..."

"Nothing, dumb-dumb," Sunshine answered Casper. She snorted a little bit at Echo's request for her to matchmake him. She knew that he had been with a woman at one point, but she couldn't see him with any of the women on the island. That left the men and others for her to work with. She drummed her fingers on the table, thinking for a bit. "Actually, you should hook up with Northstar. He's French-Canadian like you, might be a little boyfriend-twin but that's fine, and he's an asshole. He's also a twin."

"I thought he was dating Kyle?" Marrow raised.

Sunshine shrugged. "I heard they broke up, Kyle didn't want to move to Genosha. But whatever. His loss. Also, Northstar can do way better than a flatscan anyways."

"Hmm, you're right - he'd be much better on the Real Housewives of Genosha if he's single," Marrow agreed. A bunch of the queer mutants had been campaigning to get the Quiet Council to approve a Bravo show. So far, it was all just fan-casting at the moment as to who would be on it, but Northstar was a popular pick.

When Zari asked what it meant to be ace, Sunshine had to stifle some giggles. She had only learned about asexuality a few months ago herself, but she certainly wasn't going to let anyone here realize that. Andy gave a far more thorough explanation that Sunshine herself would have, and she watched Zari with interest, wondering if the baby-queer was about to hatch from her egg.

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Hellfire Manor...

Stacy X was one of the many non human passing mutants on Genosha. Prior to relocating to the island, she had been a sex worker in a mutant brothel called X-Ranch, where she used her pheromone powers to service her clients. Now, in the Hellfire Manor and currently trying to take care of all these children, Stacy X was using her pheromone control to get some goddamn peace and quiet, putting the babies down for a nap.

"No, I have everything entirely under control," Stacy X replied, rolling her eyes. "Yes, I could use a fucking extra set of hands - or twenty. Find it real hard to believe I'm the only one on this island who gives a shit about these kids - and you, I guess, unless you're here to look and have a laugh?" Stacy X asked, crossing her arms. Her body had portions that seemed to be more like snake-skin than human skin. "If that's the case, then you can go fuck yourself. But if you're actually here to help, then it smells like it's diaper duty time."

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Callie was surprised that the little council meeting had ended pretty quickly, as she followed alongside Veil out of the Grove she nodded towards Veil. "Sounds like a good idea to me then." Callie said, James was already way ahead of them at the moment as she started to think about the gala and what sorts of things that they could do with it. When Veil asked her a question turning her attention over towards her friend asking her thoughts on the X-Men and why they hadn't come to Genosha yet. A part of her was a little bit annoyed that none of them showed up to help with the fight against the Children of the Vault.

Callie wasnt sure what they all were doing right now either, she was pretty sure that they had some sort of downtime between saving the world and what not. ]"I still find it really annoying that none of them showed up to help us out during the fight with X-Cutioner, and they didnt even show up to help us out when the Children of the Vault attacked us either." Callie said sighing slightly a little bit annoyed with them in general. "But ultimately it's their choice whether or not they want to come here or not. What are your thoughts on them in general?" She asked Veil.

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Max couldn't help but laugh at Caspers antics. He should've figured a wild child like him would attempt to snap a bit when a finger got too close. As much as Casper drove him up a wall before, he could easily see the charm that James was quickly falling head over heels for. "I'm still on the fence about Selene. She's helpful but…there's a lot to her and I rather figure that out before I go placing too much trust there. I'd ask Strange but I don't think he'd appreciate me using him like a yellowpages. As for Wanda…I was told she wasn't on this island. Whether by choice or by omission I'm not fully sure, but either way she isn't here." Max turned his attention off towards the Green Lagoon. Looking past the water as if to try and glimpse a sight of the Scarlet Witch back on the mainland.

The magic users here were all wonderful, Pixie especially, though not too many remained after the attack from Cthulhu himself. But it made Max wonder, out of all the strong mages he'd encountered, why was only Selene on this island? Wanda refused to come, Strange wasn't a mutant so that made sense, but then where was Runa? The Goddess of Lies. Where was her cousin Klara? The more he thought about it the more he wanted to know about Selene and the visions he'd seen when they shared a consciousness. "Why do you hate Tarot so much Jack? Afraid you'll see something bad?"

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Harry listened as Sunshine spoke about another French-Canadian twin hero. It'd be nice to date someone with whom he had something in common, though he paused at the mention of the fact that he was an asshole. "Why did you list asshole as a possible good thing? Though it also matters on what kind of asshole. Like does he at least leave a bare minimum of twenty percent on a tip? Because if it's any lower than that I'm sorry we can't date." Harry said half jokingly. He caught some interest in the idea of a Real Housewives of Genosha. Trash TV on an island full of mutants? Sign him up for a seat of the drama. But the conversation quickly halted as Sunshines attention seemed to pull towards Zari and Andy again.

Harry was actually surprised at how well Andy had described it. He was curious as to where exactly she'd learned all this, but then again he figures the youth of today had more access to this sort of knowledge than he had back when he was younger. "I, for example, am Pansexual. It means I like kitchen appliances." There was a short pause before he continued "That's a joke, please don't take that seriously. But it does mean that Sunshine and Marrow aren't limited to the binary of male or female for their attempts at finding me a match. I'm pretty open to what's around me, though that doesn't mean I don't have my preferences on certain things. Oh, what's Northstars power by the way?"

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James listened to the music floating around the Green lagoon as he reached it, pausing to scan the area for everyone. It didn’t take long―the former members of the mutant underground were a motley crew that stood out like beacons in the dark―and he found himself smiling for a moment while he watched. If someone had told him a year ago that the Mutant Underground crew would be sitting around a table comfortably out in the open without worrying about being assaulted, he would have laughed, thanked them for the joke, and brushed it off. He let himself enjoy the warm happiness that washed over him at being wrong in his hypothetical situation before he pushed forward towards the group.

He raised an eyebrow at the shattered remnants of the plate and waffles just sitting in the middle of the table everyone had gathered around as he made his way to Casper’s side. “Hey there, precious.” James tilted Casper’s face up to kiss him and then shifted so he stood behind him, content to rest his chin on Casper’s shoulder while his boyfriend sat. “What crime did the poor plate commit to deserve this fate?”

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"I don't know who all could do it, I haven't really thought to try to find someone," Jack responded with a bit of a shrug towards Casper. He didn't completely hate fortune tellers or card readings, he just figured that he'd be fine with whatever happened, the future never really seemed all too important. Of course, Casper with his typical scatterbrained rambling instantly moved onto the next subject, thinking that it was the end of the conversation. Of course, he was proven wrong by Max deciding to ask him why he doesn't like tarot cards, because of course the subject was sticking around.

Rolling his eyes slightly at the question, Jack thought for a moment how best to answer the question. "I don't really hate tarot readings or fortune tellers... I just never thought it was important to try and figure out the future since it probably could change at a moment's notice. And no, I wouldn't care if I saw something bad, after all, bad things happen, that is all part of this thing called life." That was the best answer he could come up with all things considering, it was a question he had gotten more or less on the spot, and that was the best way he could answer it currently.

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Zari was so confused as to the conversation around her and what people were explaining, that and the fact was a bit obvious that Andy didn't seem super comfortable answering her question for some reason. She wasn't entirely sure why things were like that, the others seemed a bit more open to adding a little bit to Andy's initial explanation, but as usual she just sort of ended up confused with literally everything. From reactions to people trying to explain everything, to the actual explanations themselves. Zari was not sure she understood anything that was mentioned currently.

"...I guess that makes some sense?" she responded, not entirely sure what else to really say with regards to everything. It would be somewhat obvious to everyone else that she was still a little bit confused on the matter, but she was figuring that it was better to not ask the questions going through her head currently. Though she was content with just sort of listening to what else was being said, and listening currently was the best that she really could do, that wasn't asking a bunch more questions about things.

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Miranda wasn't entirely surprised when Stacey X decided to more or less be sarcastic with regards to what she had asked before stating that she definitely needed the help and how no one seemed to care about the kids. That statement really made her a bit sad, yet she could understand how people seemed to really not care about kids who lost their parents, and how they didn't really have a place to go and no one was really wanting to take them in. It made her think a bit about her own children, how she hadn't been able to be there for them growing up, but she wasn't going to fully talk about that right now.

"...I do care and want to help... I had children of my own, years ago..." she said somewhat sadly, "Due to... circumstances, I didn't get to see them grow up. But I do have experience with them from when they were small and up to toddlers. So I can be useful and helpful whether you believe that or not. So point me where you need me, and I'll help you. Even if it is something as unpleasant as changing diapers or something if you want." Though she wouldn't be surprised if people didn't really think she was good with children or could be helpful in a situation like the current one that they were in. However she was determined to help at this point, as it was something she could easily do at this point, and made her feel like she was helping someone really. She specifically left it slightly vague about mentioning that she had experience with her own kids, so that it could be interpreted as her giving them up, or that they potentially died of some unknown cause. It was also the first time she ever really admitted to anyone aside from a few that she had ever had children of her own.

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Well, that hadn't exactly been the best description. Zari was still very confused. A fearful thought crossed Andy's mind. Did Zari even know what sex was? That fit with the possibility of her being Ace. Maybe she had never had the desire for...usually by late teen years self-exploration had happened.

"I think...I'm going to go for a walk." Andy said quickly. She stood up almost knocking over the table she was at before going out of the Green Lagoon. Not that outside provided much privacy from the others. How did it all get so weird? She had just been hanging out. She rubbed her face with the palms of her hands, which were cold despite it being the middle of summer.

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Veil's feelings about the X-Men were complicated and ever-evolving. There had been periods in her life where she idolized them, seeing them as the perfect mutant heroes, mutants who could demand dignity that humanity tried to withhold. At other times, they seemed like celebrities - superficial, fake, elite, and beautiful. "I'm frustrated with them," Veil admitted. "They're supposed to care about mutantkind and work towards making a better world for all mutants - but it seems like they can't be bothered to descend from their ivory tower in Westchester when we need them. X was always asking us to do things, sending us little bribes so we wouldn't realize that we were expendable to him... If you don't wear an X, you don't matter to him and his child soldiers."

Maybe the X-Men were heroes - or maybe they were nothing. It didn't change the fact that when mutantkind needed them most, they weren't there. And given that they were led by one of the world's foremost telepathic talents, a man equipped with a machine that allowed him to connect to every mutant mind on Earth, it was inexcusable to happen once, let alone more than that. And it had. Xavier didn't care - and the X-Men were made in his image. "Sorry to get all political on you, it's just been weighing on my mind since... well, since what happened to the Morlocks."

They were outside the Green Lagoon now. Veil stopped, not knowing if Spark Plug wanted to continue this conversation or head inside. She then noticed Andy coming on out, looking slightly distressed. But before she could approach Andy, someone else did.

"Are you alright, child?" Magneto asked, having come from the Grove as well. He removed his helmet, his silver-white hair blowing slightly across his face.

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Casper found Max's distrust of Selene a little funny, given how they had thrown their lots in with their former enemies, the Hellfire Club, on Genosha. It seemed to him like this entire experiment only really worked if people trusted each other, if they were willing to hand out second chances like candy, and have everyone work together. But then again, what did he know - he hadn't even managed to successfully graduate from high school, much less take any sort of political science or theory class.

Casper was distracted from whatever he had been about to blurt out when his very sexy lover came up from behind and tilted his head up into a kiss. Casper's eyes fluttered from the simple sweet gesture. "What plate, babe?" Casper asked, having already forgotten about the plate shattering incident.

"The one you broke?" Ben pointed out.

"Huh? Oh! Babe! Guess what! Ben is back! He's okay! He's not dead! Well he's dead but he's not dead-dead, you know? Like Echo didn't actually kill him forever, he just sorta... I don't know what he did but Ben is back!"

Sunshine snickered slightly as Echo asked her why Northstar being an asshole was a good thing. "Because I think you kinda want someone to step on you," Sunshine explained bluntly. Echo didn't strike her as the sort of person who wanted to be in charge when it came to a relationship - and she could easily imagine Northstar calling the shots with a charming smirk on his face. "I don't know how he tips, because again, money isn't really a thing here."

"He was in the Olympics, got a gold medal and everything in some skiing event," Marrow said. "He's very... fast, if you catch my drift." She then snickered a little bit herself. There were a few speedsters on the island, and, well... Let your imagination fill in a few of the dirty details and you probably have an idea of what Marrow was implying. "He is a speedster after all - and he can fly and I think shoot light beams."

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Hellfire Manor...

"That's exactly what I want you to do, diapers need to be changed. As much as I'd love to boop these little devils on the nose and keep them from pooping, the shit has to go somewhere and it's better it goes out the correct end," Stacy X explained. "The other thing you could do would be to adopt one or more of the kids and show them a loving home, or hell, bully other people on the island into doing that - I'm not going to play mommy to these kids forever. I've got a life to live."

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Callie looked over towards her friend and nodded towards her it was understandable to be really frustrated with them, especially with Professor X who hadn't helped them at all really when the Underground was a thing. "I'm frustrated with them to." Callie said as she gently patted Veil on the shoulder, as they continued their walk as they stood just outside of the Green Lagoon. A part of her wished that they didnt end up loosing so many of their own, maybe if the X-Men current and former were there to help them then some of their friends could have still been alive now.

"I totally agree with you, Professor X never really provided us with very much to really very little of anything at all really. Maybe if we had more support from him, some of our friends would still be alive now." Callie said sighing slightly. "Hell he could have sent any of the former members to help maybe to." Callie said as she noticed Andy coming out and leaving, when she heard Magneto as he approached asking if she was alright. "It's alright you don't have to be sorry at all Veil." Callie told her friend as she went in and gave her friend a hug. "I'm there for you whenever you do need to vent."

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Andy hadn't gotten very far outside the Green Lagoon when Magento showed up. It was odd timing. Some wild coincidence, but she didn't think it was that weird. She gave a half-hearted smile. "Oh, the conversation just got really awkward." She shrugged. It wasn't a lie. And she didn't know how to explain to Magneto that Sunshine had been trying to get her and Zari to hook up and how Zari was more oblivious about it than was normal.

Andy took a quick look at Magneto's face and tried to get a read. She tended to be able to tell with people because of having lived on the streets of who was safe to talk to and who wasn't. She also knew that Magento only really emoted when he was livid, and he didn't look livid so she hopped it would be safe to ask.

"How was the meeting?" She asked, trying to draw the conversation away from her personal problems she didn't particularly want to face. Since he wasn't pissed that meant any other part of the spectrum was possible, but it was unlikely the question would result in a disastrous response.

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Of course, leave it to his brother to get completely distracted in the span of .02 seconds in general. With James there now, honestly he wasn't surprised all things considering. "Wow Casper, so easily distracted," he said towards his brother, before waving slight at James when he walked over to talk to his brother. Yeah, this conversation about the tarot cards was more or less over, unless Max wanted to comment more on why Jack didn't really ever care to know much about the future or whatever. He never liked it before, and with more recent events, he really didn't want to know.

Though right now, he was a little annoyed with James deciding to show up right now, since Jack had wanted to see about talking to Casper, and not really wanting to talk to anyone else about what he wanted to talk to him about. That being tell the one family member he talked to really (aside from sometimes his mother) the truth about how he was still around. Though based on what was being said currently by his brother, made it a bit obvious that he likely forgot how he had asked to talk to him later without anyone else (except for probably Ben) really around. Since Casper was distracted by James now, he wasn't going to bring it up again.

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Zari was incredibly confused still as to what everyone was seemingly wanting to say and all. She wasn't too sure why Andy had decided to walk away, and she couldn't help but ask out loud to the group by her, "...Did I say something wrong?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. She had no idea if she had said something to upset Andy or anything. The thing was fairly obvious, but she wasn't typically the best with social situations, considering the fact that her best friends were robots that she had built herself. So she was incredibly confused.

"01011010 01100001 01110010 01101001 00101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101111 00100000 01101111 01100010 01101100 01101001 01110110 01101001 01101111 01110101 01110011 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 01110011 00101110..." Mr. Eyeball beeped a bit at her.

"Jeg er forvirret. Hva skjedde egentlig? Har jeg gått glipp av noe? Hvorfor ser det ut til at du vet mer om denne typen ting?" she asked the robot, switching to her native language. Zari was so confused with regards to everything around her, she figured that apparently the robot seemed to understand things better then her. Her mind was more wired with dealing with technology and such, not social dynamics in any way shape or form. Also the reason she was fairly close with her parents, but back home how she didn't really have too many friends of her own.

"01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01101110 01100101 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110010 01101110 00100000 01101000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 01110011 00100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 01101101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01101011 00101110 00100000 01000001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101110."

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Miranda gave Stacy X a smile still, "I haven't been around kids for a long time, or well, my own really... But as I said, I still know a thing or two of what I'm doing..." With that, she went over towards where everything was setup, and instantly set to work, helping to change a few of the diapers for the babies and all. It had been ages since she had to deal with kids that young, but truthfully, she was rather happy to get back to it, and helping out with the kids who didn't really have anyone anymore. Though she wasn't sure she'd be able to do more then that, since she wasn't sure if she would be a good mother still.

After a while of helping out with the babies, she turned her attention to see more of the toddlers and slightly older kids that were around, when she saw a little girl with bright purple hair and eyes to match it. The little girl stuck out to her, and Miranda couldn't help but go over to her, and she kneeled down by her, "Hey there, what's your name?" she asked her gently, giving her a smile.

---

“Welcome back, Ben! I’m glad Echo didn’t manage to scare you off for too long.” James laughed, returning Jack’s wave as he spoke into the air around Casper. James’ eyebrow rose at the other conversation going on at the table and how it turned into Sunshine’s thoughts about what Echo did and didn’t want but he was fairly certain he didn’t want to ask. He still laughed at it though, the combination of the Mutant Underground always keeping the table interesting, before pulling his attention back to Casper.

“Do you have any plans right now, sweetheart?” James asked, fingers drumming nervously along Casper’s shoulders. “Because, uh, Destiny said the weirdest thing after the meeting and you remember how we talked about maybe starting a family? She suggested that now was kind of the time so if you aren’t busy, I would like to talk about that? If you’re still okay with that, a lot has changed and the attack wasn’t long ago and I know everyone is still recovering so if you don’t want to I totally get it but we could talk about it at least cause all those kids who lost their parents need homes and the timing is just really good and… yeah?” James cut himself off before he continued rambling more and making himself seem like more of an idiot.

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Max wasn't exactly satisfied with Jack's answer. He wasn't fully certain he believed that the world had predestined plans for everyone, but he did believe that sometimes fate would get involved into someone's life and change the course of where they stand. After all, had Max kept his mouth shut, had he never tried to warn Sunshine about the dangers of using her powers outdoors, then she never would have followed him and they wouldn't have had the cops chasing them and then a whole chain of events wouldn't have been set forth. Leighton would still be alive most likely, the Morlocks safe, and Max would still be on the streets. But then the mutants would've had the 'heroes' who would stop the X-cutioner and help pave the way for this island. To think that was all happenstance and not the hand of fate pushing them towards the right direction…Max didn't know how anyone could think that.

Luckily for him, the conversation seemed to be pulled into a whole new direction as James arrived at their table. It worked out so well that Casoer had just been asking about the future with him and what it held, because here James was speaking about another named Destiny who had suggested the very same thing. Destiny, Fate, whether by coincidence or by the cards design, Max was watching it all unfold before him. He arched his brow at James and then back at Casper. "The cards don't lie. Go off and talk you two lovebirds. Ben can keep me company, maybe I'll get a Ouiji board or something to help communicate with him."

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"Right. I keep forgetting about the whole no money deal here. Definitely not something I'm used to yet." Harry replied to Sunshine. He actively chose to ignore the comment about her thoughts on him wanting to get stepped on. That particular kink wasn't one he had, but he could see what she was getting at. Andy, unfortunately, appeared to have had enough of the conversational topics and got up and left for a walk. His eyes followed her for a moment until Marrow spoke up with more information about Northstar. His eyebrows rose in amazement for a moment.

Harry whistled in an impressed manner. "Those are quite the achievements. Olympic winner? And he had several powersets? Though I hope he isn't a speedster in every sense. Impatience only leads to a very disappointing ending after all." He sat back in his seat for a moment, thinking if anything this mutant was out of his league. "A part of me wonders if I can even compete, then another part tells me that I'm one of the heroes of Genosha who just stood against children of The Vault and pushed them back on two fronts. So I think we're tied on that."

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Veil's thoughts darted back towards Max's plan to raise the dead - and the knowledge that Mister Sinister had done so successfully with Jack. She was vaguely aware of other cases where the dead had come back to life, usually happening to the most prominent, A-list superheroes - and mages. It all then clicked into place in her head. She was angry at the X-Men for not saving their people - if she didn't do what she could to bring the dead back to them, she was no better. She made up her mind then. She would tell Max what Sinister had done.

Veil hugged Spark Plug back, smiling ever so slightly. "I think it might be time to spill the beans to Max with what happened to Jack." She didn't want to immediately say openly the prospect of raising the dead - so much loss had happened on the island recently, she didn't want to get people's hopes up if they were overheard. That would be worse - promising to bring back the ones they lost, only to fail.

Meanwhile, at the table, any chance Casper had of remembering that Jack wanted to speak to him privately had really gone out the window. He was already distracted and hyperactive on a good day - and now, his lovingly adorable James was here and asking if he was ready to adopt a child. Casper felt ever so slightly faint. He didn't know if he was responsible enough to be a father - he then calmed down instantly, reminding himself that even if he wasn't ready, James was certainly more than ready. And they had talked about it and if Destiny, the weird mutant seer, said to do so, that wasn't much different than the tarot cards, right?

"Sure!" Casper blurted, before standing up from the table. "We have to pick a cute one though, we have standards to uphold in our family," Casper then joked. "Actually though, just no straight babies... I'm kidding... Unless...?" he said. It was really hard to tell if he was joking or not, as Casper rarely took anything seriously at all.

"Those are a hoax," Ben said to Max, referring to his comment about the oujia board, even though only Casper could hear him.

Sunshine raised an eyebrow at James asking Casper about getting a kid. "Are you sure he's old enough for that?" she asked, before returning her attention to her little conversation group at the table - Marrow, Echo, and technically Valkyrie, although Sunshine was ignoring Valkyrie as Valkyrie seemed to have the social skills of a baby worm. There wasn't much of a point in explaining things to her, especially as she was beeping and booping along with that weird robot thing of hers. Honestly, sometimes Sunshine wasn't even sure what Valkyrie was even doing here.

"You should ask him out, I'm sure he'd say yes," Marrow said with a shrug. "Especially if you're on good terms with his sister, Aurora."

Sunshine's eyes then widened and she snorted a bit. "Actually, I don't think you and Northstar can date... because there's a rumor going around that Aurora and Veil might hook-up, so it would be some twin on twin action which is a little too much."

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Hellfire Manor...

The small girl with purple hair and eyes tilted her head at Miranda. "Purple Mongoose," the girl answered, before reaching out and yanking on Miranda's hair. "Why your hair look like poop?" she then asked, referring to the brown color of Miranda's hair. Stacy X started cracking up slightly in the corner. "Yeah, why does your hair look like shit, dear?" Stacy asked Miranda.

Outside the Green Lagoon...

Magneto's facial expression would be a little bit easier to Andy to read - there was a slight hint of anger there, with an almost pensive tone to it. It wasn't anger directed at her however. "The Council thinks that what ails Genosha can be solved with a drunken soirée," Magneto said bluntly. "Sometimes I wonder if in our new home, we've become soft and vulnerable, easy pickings for homo sapiens and their monstrous machines," he then admitted. "The horrors of my youth repeated, this time for the mutants instead of the Jews."

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Callie smiled when Veil hugged her back and then took a step back as she looked at Veil and nodded towards her, though Sinister probably would most likely ask for something in return. She wasnt sure how Sinister even did it in the first place, but she was also curious as well to. "Sounds like a plan then, we should let Jack know to." Callie said, as she took a moment and looked at both Andy and Magneto for a moment as he complained about the Gala that the rest of the Quiet Council had agreed on. "Lets head on inside." Callie said to Veil as she went into the Green Lagoon.

Callie looked around before seeing the rest of the Underground sitting amongst themselves and talking, seeing James and Casper already talking as she made her way over to the group. "How's everyone doing?" Callie asked as she pulled up a seat at the bar and turned around to look at Max for a moment. "Whenever you are free could Veil and I talk to you privately?" Callie said, she didnt really want everyone else inside of the Green Lagoon to find out either.

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"Oh." Andy frowned at Magneto's explanation about the meeting. Her knowledge of history was weak, but she knew enough to know what he meant. "Why a party?" She asked confused. In a way it made sense. Sometimes people grieving needed a party. But it seemed gratuitous.

"Is there something I can do to help you? I don't know maybe start an island defense team?" Andy knew there was a power structure here. But considering how the battle when they were attacked went having people who were a trained response team, and maybe some proper bunkers or something would help.