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Max couldn't help but smile at those two. Something about their relationship just seemed right. The perfect balance of order and chaos mixed into one unit that was now thinking of raising a child. Sure the idea of it seemed a bit…terrifying. Max didn't even know if Casper could stay focused long enough to change a diaper, but if James or him ever needed help, Max would be willing to lend a hand. For a brief moment the idea of raising one of his own crossed his mind. After all there were now a plethora of orphans thanks to the attack, but somehow being a single dad whose constantly tipping along the lines of magic and mayhem just seemed like a bad start to being father of the year.

Max's concentration broke as a familiar face began to approach them. He hadn't thought much of it, Callie was part of the Underground so why wouldn't she come visit at the Lagoon? But what she said next caught him off guard. He couldn't help but wonder if he was in some sort of trouble, perhaps he'd done something wrong, or they found out about his attempt to alter Selene's spell, but whatever it was he had to face the music. No more running. "Uh. Sure. Mind if Ben tags along? He's sorta my date for the evening while James and Casper have some alone time." Max held his hand slightly out for Ben to take, something he was sure he couldn't do but the thought counted for something.

Max looked around the Green Lagoon and quickly realised there was no privacy to be found. Especially for those whose names and faces the entire island knew. He thought back towards what Sunshine was saying about the Real Housewives of Genosha and let out a tired sigh. "It's a bit crowded here though, mind if I take us elsewhere to talk?" Much like before with what he'd said about Ben, this was less of a question and more of a warning. Max turned his wrist as his fingers began to spark magic. Unfortunately that was all that happened at first. A second try produced a swirl of cosmic energy formed before the portal came to view and opened up a doorway towards a lush jungle landscape where he could've sworn he heard a dinosaur roaring off into the distance. Afraid to find out if he was right or not, Max tried for a third time, finally his and Sunshines room came into view. He crossed through and laid down on his bed, grabbing a nearby object and tossing it into the air before it fell back into his hands. "So what's up?"

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Harry chuckled at Sunshines dig towards Casper. It was true the psychic mutant held a massively childish charm, and could hardly be seen as a father figure, but he was certain if anything that James would step in or Ben would talk Casper out of most idiotic ideas. His attention shifting back to Marrow and Sunshine, Harry smiled at Marrow's push to try asking Northstar out. It was a nice idea, finding someone, after how much time had passed now, even if some of it was spent on ice. Still, there was a pit of a feeling in his chest. She'd want him to be happy, but he'd feel bad knowing he'd always love her regardless of who he was with. Or so that's what he thought.

When Sunshine brought up Veil's potential interest in Northstars twin sister Aurora, he spread his hands as if to say he couldn't do much else. "Well then that's that I suppose. If anyone deserves happiness out of the two of us it's Val. Kid sis deserves a break, and if that means me stepping aside from Genoshas most eligible Bachelor then so be it. Oh and if any of you dare tell her I called her Val you'll find yourselves on the bad end of a nuggy you got it?" Harry teased with a wagged finger. As if cue, Veil came in with Callie who had spoken something to Max. Before long Max was conjuring portal's and Harry's lip curled slightly into a frown. "Not staying long i take it? Don't work too hard, Veil. Callie make sure she gets rest."

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Jack rolled his eyes slightly at Casper's whole thing where he was more or less rambling a bit about him and James adopting a kid. Personally, he didn't think that anyone in his family really should be raising a kid no matter the circumstances. He was honestly including himself in that mob of people, and honestly Casper likely was not someone he could imagine being a good father figure to any kid. Why James seemed to think this was a good idea, he had absolutely no idea, and he wasn't sure how things would go, since depending on the age of the kid, that could just cause problems.

Though, he didn't fully have the heart to point out this obvious fact to Casper. Then the idea of saying anything or whatever about it to James was basically out of the question. Ever since they ended up in Genosha he had basically kept his distance from people, and that did put a strain on their friendship, so he wasn't even sure how to potentially bring up that idea to him either. His attention turned towards Max (as well as Callie and Veil who were there now) wanting to talk to Max about something, and he couldn't help but wonder what it was.

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Well, she more or less was accepting of the fact that the others didn't think she was the best to talk to anymore. Though she couldn't still help but feel that she said or did something wrong. She was incredibly confused, and no one really went to see about explaining anything. The thing was, she went about and asked questions, a lot, but she did it because she was curious, and people might think her strange, but the thing was. She knew that already. She knew that she was considered strange, and it wasn't just people here who tended to obviously think that. Where she was from, people didn't exactly hide much of those thoughts either.

Zari was essentially a lonely person, aside from her parents, occasional visits with their friends (well, more of her mother's friends) she was kind of by herself with her robots. That was always the reason why she tended to converse more with Mr. Eyeball as opposed to people, since to her it was just easier since she didn't really interact too much with people socially. Only really when she was doing combat training did she really interact with other people, but that wasn't really a social interaction at all, and it was easier for her to just shift in her mind to focus on that, part of the reason why she might not have social skills, but she definitely was someone you would want on your side in a fight. Zari was now just sort of listening to the conversations around her, just going oddly quiet for the moment.

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Miranda herself couldn't help but laugh at the little girl's comment about her hair color. Oh the mind of a small child was always an entertaining thing, not to mention that little kids didn't really have much of a filter, so you could always count on them to be brutally honest. "I don't know really, it is a strange thing isn't it? How my hair is this color, while yours is purple..." she said with a soft smile. Miranda hadn't really been around little kids for a while, so this wasn't something she was entirely prepared for. Though the girl's name that she gave herself was very fitting.

"Well Purple Mongoose. I'm Moneta, and what would you say if... My hair wasn't this dull brown, but instead more like yours? Even if not for long..." with those words, Miranda used her powers to create a bit of a projection around her head. Now, to anyone looking at her, it would seem like her hair was a purple color similar to the little girl's, just a little darker and not as bright. "You are right though, purple always is way better then any other color. Always was my favorite color personally."

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James laughed fondly at his boyfriend, quick to slide his arm around Casper’s waist, and quirked a brow at Sunshine’s question. He was going to reply but her quick return to her conversation group made him just chuckled instead. James wasn’t under the illusion that she wasn’t entirely wrong - in fact, he knew he’d have his hands full between Casper and their kid but as much as he knew that, he also knew Casper was going to be so fucking loving that it made James’ heart squeeze. Or maybe that was thefucking dinosaur noise coming from the portal Max quickly closed before slipping though the right one.

“Rule number 1, no chaos magic around the kid!” James joked through the portal. He shook his head and waved goodbye to everyone else before heading back towards Hellfire Manor,sliding his hand into Casper’s as they walked. “For the record, I think you’re going to be a great dad. You’re so sweet and caring that it’ll be impossible for them not to love you. God knows it was impossible for me.”

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Veil headed over to join the others with Spark Plug, taking a seat next to Callie once they got to the table. She liked how Spark Plug didn't waste any time with bringing up to Max that they needed to talk privately. It was probably for the best that not everyone be involved in this conversation, in order to protect Jack's privacy a little bit - but Veil also had a feeling that everyone in their little circle would end up finding out sooner or later, especially after sharing that information with Max. Chaos tended to follow him wherever he went.

Still, she raised an eyebrow as Max explained that Ben was his date for the evening, stretching out his hand for Ben to take. "... You haven't started to be able to talk to ghosts, right Max?" Veil couldn't help but ask. She honestly didn't understand Max's powers - he was one of those mutants with magic powers that seemed to be able to do just about anything? She wasn't even sure what his limits were, besides his own skill level. It was like if someone had asked Veil what the Scarlet Witch or even Magik were capable of - she honestly just didn't know.

"Nope, then I would have two chaotic queers translating what I'm saying to you all instead of just one," Ben commented. Only Casper heard him and Casper wasn't super paying attention, as he was leaving with James at the moment.

"Bye Ben!" Capser shouted, waving at his friend. "Bye everyone!" He left and was soon out of sight, having left the Green Lagoon.

"And now no one can understand me, yay...." Ben sighed.

Max conjured up a portal for them - taking a few tries, with one of them bizarrely featuring what looked like... Veil paused for a moment in her thoughts, before recalling one of her geography lessons at the Xavier School - that must've been the Savage Land that they had just glimpsed. But thankfully, the portal then looked like their home here on Genosha - freshly repaired, with a new coat of paint, but still their home. Veil waved awkwardly at everyone, her eyes lingering on her twin for a second - "I'll rest later, Harry," - before Veil stepped on through the portal. "Mister Sinister resurrected Jack," Veil told Max once they were on through and the portal closed.

Meanwhile, Sunshine and Marrow couldn't help but notice that the group had gotten progressively smaller and smaller. Andy had left, Zarina wasn't talking so in their mind they didn't count her either as really being present, JMax had left with Veil and Spark Plug, James and Casper had gone to go adopt some plucky kid probably named Annie or something. Even the ghost had (maybe?) left - they weren't really sure if Ben had gone with Max and all or not. That just left them with Echo and Jack, and Jack wasn't talking. It had been fun at first to tease Echo and whatnot, but the topic was getting a little bit stale.

Grief came in waves, too. Sunshine's mood took a slight turn for the worse as she sighed. The empty seats at the table from their living friends just reminded her of the empty seats from those who had passed on. She tried to refocus her energy though. "Babes, would you get me a drink?" she asked Marrow.

Marrow nodded. "Sure, babes," she said, before kissing Sunshine's nose. "You want anything?" she then asked Echo.

---

Hellfire Manor...

"Maybe you have chocolate powers," Mongoose suggested, a perfectly reasonable explanation for why Miranda's hair was brown. Mongoose wasn't as impressed as someone might have been with the hair color transformation, instead visibly yawning at Miranda's display of power. One thing was obvious - this kid had attitude. "Iris can make her hair rainbow colors," Mongoose said, referring to one of the other kids most likely.

"Roasted," Stacy X commented, giggling a little bit. "You're going to have to step up your game, Moneta."

Meanwhile, Casper and James arrived outside of the manor. Casper was grinning, holding his boyfriend's hand. He adored James. And if James wanted a kid and was ready for that, then Casper was going to do his very best. "Awwww, babes," Casper said, before giving James a kiss on the cheek. "I just hope the kid turns out like you," he joked. "At least hopefully it doesn't get my attention span, otherwise you're doomed." He knew that he was a challenging person to date and Casper didn't want James to feel outnumbered.

"So... where are the orphans?" Casper asked James. He didn't see anyone sitting on the steps of the Manor or anything, looking sad and ready to be adopted into a gay and loving household. Although come to think of it, Casper was pretty sure babies wouldn't be left unattended anyways. At least, not on the steps.

Outside the Green Lagoon...

"The Council believes that some fun is needed to drown out the pain of losing our mutant brothers and sisters," Magneto explained to Andy. It was incredibly obvious from his tone that he didn't agree with that choice at all, finding it to be a mockery of the deceased. Andy's suggestion, however, gave him pause for a moment. That was regrettably one of the reason why 198 mutants had died after the attack - they weren't all strong enough to defend themselves and their home. They were weak and soft and vulnerable.

"That's an excellent idea, Champion," Magneto praised. "We lack a defensive force... and most mutants on our island are untrained. Perhaps we should found the Genoshan War College and devise a command structure... A new Brotherhood of Mutants."

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"We'll meet up with you guys later and we can hangout whenever we are done." Callie said as she looked over towards Echo and then looked over at Veil for a moment. She wasnt really sure if she could even get Veil to rest honestly, though hopefully now that they were somewhat safer now they could actually do that. "I'll try to no guarantees though." Callie told him, as Max tried to open up a portal, only to open up a portal to the Savage Land, it took a few tries before Max was able to get it right. She took a moment to look at the others who were still there and gave them a wave before jumping through the portal into Max's room.

Veil spoke first rather quickly as soon as the portal closed behind them, Callie leaned herself up against the wall as Max got onto the bed and figured he needed a little bit more info. "When Sapphire sacrificed herself to put us into cryo freeze due to Jack's powers he died as well to. When we came to Jack asked Veil and I to help him look into it, so we snuck into Mr. Sinister's place, where we found that out in one of his labs in there we found a cloned body of Jack there." Callie informed Max as she looked over at Veil.

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Andy had had so little praise from parental figures in her life. Only the Drummonds had ever really taken to giving her praise for a job well done. She felt pride swell in her chest. Pleased that he approved of her idea.

"Let me see if Zari wants to help." The awkwardness of the conversation forgotten and the desire to spend time with her friend easily outweighed any other thought about it. Magneto nodded.

She quickly went back into the Green Lagoon and came over to Zari, "Hey Magento and I are working on something, do you want to help?" She asked Zari quietly. Hoping the chatter and music would cover the conversation. But also kept it vague so anyone who overheard wouldn't know what it was. It wasn't that she wanted to keep other people from joining...eventually. But it had been her idea and she wanted it to be their thing.

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Max tossed the rubber ball up in the air a few more times, answering Veil as he waited for Callie to say her goodbyes and cross through the portal. "Not yet no. But I have a few theories on how I could talk to Ben. Especially given now that there appears to be more on souls than I had even considered possible." He tossed the ball up again. Callie crossed through the portal and Max waved his hand for it to close behind her so they could finally have some privacy. Without wasting a second, Veil dropped a bomb on Max. One arm lay outstretched before him while the other was towards his side frozen in the wave he used to close the portal. Stunned didn't even begin to describe what he was at that moment. The racquetball came falling down, hitting him in the face before bouncing off and rolling on the floor towards the girls.

Callie was kind enough to fill the silence with further explanation about what it was Veil was talking about. Max laid in his bed for a few more moments. Thoughts running through his head. He recalled meeting Jack's father back at the Cherry Bomb. His grotesque lab, the crazed state they found Nightcrawler in, and the choice Emma Frost had given Leighton and him. Max took a deep, sharp, breath in. Exhaling slowly as he sat up and off the edge of the bed. "I can only assume you're telling me this because of my plan to help resurrect mutants? So. I have a lot of questions if that's the reason why. How long do these clones take to grow? What's needed for them? Does that jackass have control over them or are they truly free? Let's not forget what he did to Jack not too long ago. How did he manage to get the soul back? Or is that even actually Jack? And finally, at least for now, what's the cost? I doubt he'd be willing to help us out of goodwill." There was a slight edge to Max's voice. It was clear he had a bad relation with Mister Sinister, and his eyes wouldn't meet Veils or Callies, he almost wished he could see Ben right now just as a form of comfort.

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If you hung around Sunshine enough it wasn't hard to tell when something's shifted inside of her. Harry couldn't quite tell exactly what it was, whether it was the subject matter of their conversation, the amount of friends and family leaving the table, or perhaps that the conversation had somehow become three sided, but something changed fundamentally inside of Sunshine. Marrow politely asked him if he wanted any drinks, to which he responded "Pimms cup if they have it, Mojito if they don't. And if somehow that's not an option just something refreshing and light if you could?" Harry hadn't really taken a look at what they had, for all he knew there were concoctions named after the 'Heroes of Genosha' which made him wonder if there was a drink after him, and what it would taste like.

Once Marrow had left, He turned in his seat to face Sunshine. "First off, are you two even old enough to drink? Or is this another one of those Genosha things? Secondly, what's wrong kiddo? I can see something's eating away at you and I'd be an ass not to try and help at least." He moved closer towards Sunshine, leaving enough space so she didn't feel smothered. "Especially when it's helping someone as amazing, sweet, and special as you, so spill. Talk to me, let's see if there's anything I can do." Though if he was being honest with himself, he doubted there was much he could do. More often than not he felt washed up, like a bad clone.

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He still was a little bit curious as to what Veil, Callie and Max were talking about, but he figured if it was important, it would end up getting mentioned or whatever later. Of course, he was a bit uneasy, since he did wonder if they were going to explain to Max that his father can bring people back from the dead, well in theory. Personally Jack wasn't too sure about whether he technically was still him really, that whole thing was still a bit weird to him, and something that did cross his mind every so often in general still.

Glancing over to where Sunshine and Echo were, he decided to go wander around a bit, he just sort of waved slightly in their direction, before he headed off and out of the Green Lagoon. Jack wasn't too sure what to really do at this point, so he figured that he might go walk around or something, there wasn't really much going on, and he figured that he probably wouldn't be too hard to find if people needed to talk to or find him for whatever reason, so walking around seemed like a good idea.

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Personally, Zari was getting bored, and she typically had a not so great attention span and could easily be distracted by something if it didn't involve combat and staying focused with that. It wasn't the best of things for her really, to just sit around and try and come up with potential ways to entertain herself. Sure, she was for the most part sitting there and talking to Mr. Eyeball all the time, but seriously, no offense to the robot but that only could go so far, and got a bit boring after a little while.

Her attention was drawn away by Andy deciding to pop back up, and Zari was mainly just happy that she was okay, considering the fact that no one explained things to her after she had left, and no one had answered when she literally asked if she had said something wrong to cause Andy to walk away. She tilted her head slightly to the side when Andy made her comment about things and she shrugged, "Sure, what exactly is it?" she asked her, a bit curious as to what it was that they were planning.

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She could help but chuckle slightly at the little girl's responses to everything, "Well rainbow colored hair does sound like a cool thing to see," she commented, giving her a smile. Miranda found the little girl amusing, but then again, most little kids said the funniest things in general. Of course, she only knew so much about kids that age, but the little girl was making her laugh in general, so that was something. It did make her smile, though it did sort of make her think of her own kids.

"You remind me a lot of my own daughter when she was your age..." Miranda told her. The girl definitely seemed to have a bit of an attitude, kind of like when Guin was a toddler and very much had aspects of her father's personality in general. Of course, from what she knew about Guin as an adult she still very much had a bit of an attitude, so maybe that was just something kids presented when they were younger? She wasn't too sure, but Purple Mongoose definitely made her think of the one instance she really had experiences with a toddler, and that had certainly been a bit of an experience.

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“Doomed to be happy.” James laughed, happily accepting the kiss. Staring up at the manor as they approached, James held Casper’s hand a little tighter. It was a big responsibility to take a kid into their home and while James was ecstatic to start their lives hopefully without any future genocidal assholes involved, he was also nervous. It was a kid’s life they were talking about, after all. What if they were terrible parents or the kid didn’t like them even if they were good or they got hurt and Casper and he didn’t notice or they did something stupid and the kid decided they didn’t want to tell them important things or what if they killed the kid because they didn’t know how to take care of a sick child?

James shook his head as he led Casper up the stairs of the manor, instead snorting at Casper’s question. “I don’t think they’re going to let them chill out front, babes. It isn’t a yard sale.” James joked, opening the door to the manor. The second floor had been transformed into a makeshift nursery, with poor Stacy X left to handle the orphaned children on her own. “Hey, guys.” James greeted Stacy X and Miranda as they entered. There were at least 40 kids and the sight of them made James’ heart hurt. Maybe next Council meeting they could discuss a plan to get the kids homes before they continued on with the ball. “You mind if we talk real quick? We just have a few questions.”

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The Green Lagoon...

Marrow had gone off to get drinks for everyone from the bar, where Blob was serving up Genosha's finest, leaving Sunshine alone with Echo at the table. Sunshine shrugged when Echo asked if she was old enough to drink. "Does it matter?" she asked him. She hadn't bothered to check if there were any rules against it on Genosha - as far as she knew, the laws were rather limited and lax. Besides, she was an adult. She didn't really care if some long dead humans decided you had to be 21 years old to consume alcohol.

Sunshine rolled her eyes as he went on about how sweet and special she was - and to make a point, she punched him in the arm. "I'm not nice," Sunshine corrected, before sighing and continuing. "I just miss them all. They're supposed to be here with us. But they're gone. And we can't do shit about it." It didn't feel fair to her. Genosha was supposed to be for all mutants, but could that really be true when people like Waverley and Kristina weren't there? When they had died on the land that was supposed to be a paradise, a safe haven for their people?

Hellfire Manor...

"What if it's a garage sale?" Casper asked James. It was very hard to tell if he was joking in that moment. Casper said the strangest things sometimes and this was definitely one of those moments. Did he know that they wouldn't just keep a bunch of babies in the garage? Or was he making a self-aware joke about his somewhat strange behavior? The world may never know - well, a telepath could probably figure it out. Or James.

Purple Mongoose tilted her head, looking at Moneta with slightly squinted eyes, as if she was concentrating really hard on something. "Are you old?" she then asked.

Stacy X glanced up, noticing that two newcomers had come inside - Casper and James. Their reputations preceded them, as heroes of Genosha. But Stacy didn't see them as different than any of the other hotshots on the island, especially the ones who were too busy to deal with the orphaned youth of the 198. "Sure, I've got a spot on my dance card," Stacy replied.

"I have a question to start - who are you and this is a more a comment than a question, but I looove the snake skin! Very chic," Casper chattered. Stacy X looked vaguely familiar to him, giving him the idea that he might have met her during one of his drunken, high nights. "Ben, have I met her before?" Casper asked, before pouting. "Right, Ben went with Max, so rude," he muttered.

"We've met, Casper," Stacy X said with a laugh. "I'm sad you don't remember to mind-blowing experience I gave you. Maybe we'll have to do it again sometime."

Outside the Green Lagoon...

Magneto was waiting for Andy to come back with Zarina; nothing too interesting was going on there. However, he recognized someone leave the Green Lagoon, noticing that it was the son of one of his former friends, for lack of a better term. "Stretch," Magneto called out, before walking up to Jack. "We haven't been properly introduced, I realize, something I intend to rectify. I was once good friends with your mother."

Max's Room...

Unseen by everyone, Ben had perched on Max's bed, listening to the conversation with interest. He was a ghost - he was used to eavesdropping, learning things that others didn't. But even he hadn't been aware of all of this - that Jack had died and been resurrected by Mister Sinister, or rather, cloned. "That part-time devil, part-time drag queen can bring me back?" Ben asked. He didn't like Sinister, but whenever Ben had seen him in his Sinister outfit, he was serving face the entire time.

Sadly, no one could hear Ben's comments.

"We don't know how it works - we're not scientists," Veil admitted. Max was asking questions that she just didn't know how to answer. Some of them seemed to be more of a philosophical nature, something just ineffable. "Jack doesn't want to be involved in any of this, but yeah, we thought this might help with your plans about resurrection. We don't know what the cost is for Sinister's help - or even why he decided to bring Jack back."

"You can't trust Sinister. It's literally a deal with the devil," Ben cautioned. "He's fucked up so many people, you'd just be giving him power over you he'll use to make you do something nasty."

"How far are you in making this happen?" Veil asked Max. "Maybe you don't need Sinister's help or maybe talking to him might... help tell you what you're missing. The X-Men have died and come back all the time, but it's usually in one off ways, never something so reproducible and regimented as to be able to be done for all of our people." She didn't even remember the specifics of how, for example, Jean Grey had come back beyond -Phoenix nonsense-.

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Callie watched as Max tossed that ball up and down, after she had spoken and the ball had fell down hitting Max in the face in the process, she really wasnt sure how to even answer Max's question. She was really good at fixing up cars and car engines, she was never really into sciencey stuff growing up. "I don't even know how Sinister does it either." Callie said as she knelt down and picked up the ball as it rolled over to them, she knew one thing though that they really shouldnt even trust Sinister. "Do you know anyone who would even be willing to help outside of Genosha?" Callie asked him.

"We know we can't truly trust Sinister, he'll want someone from us in return obviously. If we have to approach him it should only be our last resort." Callie said, she wasnt sure the extent of Casper's powers but he could summon souls over from the other side like how he does with Ben. "But if theres anything you need Veil and I are on the council now so if you need other resources we could see if we can try and pull some strings to." Callie told Max as she looked towards Veil for a moment.

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Andy smiled, she glanced around. Everyone seemed busy and distracted. She kept her voice low and hoped the noise of the place would be enough of a distraction to keep her from being overheard. "Magneto and I were talking about what happened and how the council wants to throw a party, but he seemed to be upset about it. So I suggested we build a defense team. That's really what hurt us. We weren't prepared." She noticed Magneto come in and was talking with Jack.

Andy shifted from foot to foot for a moment. "I thought maybe you'd want to help. You're really good at fighting and stuff. You have that Valkyrie training. I only really know boxing, which isn't like a team thing." She smiled. Maybe with this they could get some time to talk alone. Without other people getting involved and making the conversation uncomfortable.

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Jack was just sort of lost in thought, and didn't even seem to notice that Magneto was standing outside the Green Lagoon. Hearing his voice addressing him startled him a bit, but he quickly recovered and looked at him as he listened to the words that he spoke in general. The first thing that made him sort of glad was that he was talking about his mother. That actually made him a bit grateful that he was talking about his mom, and clearly not referring to his father who he still currently wanted nothing to do with at the moment.

"Nice to meet you," Jack said with a bit of a shrug. After all, everyone knew who Magneto was, if you didn't know, you had to live a bit under a rock or something like that. Since he kind of was a well known figure around the world, not just in Genosha. He still wasn't too surprised to hear that Magneto had been friends with his mom, her going off everywhere was partially why he and Casper tended to stay at the mansion for a while in general.

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Zari just sort of listened to what it was that Andy was saying about wanting to create like a defense force group or whatever with regards to protecting Genosha. Personally, Zari was just sort of glad that Andy seemingly wasn't mad about the conversations earlier, considering the fact that she had just sort of walked off and she hadn't said too much of anything before hand afterwards. Though her suggestion for what they should potentially do in order to protect Genosha, which was still something she was very much interested in.

"Well, that definitely sounds like it'll be a fun thing to do, I'm in. Being prepared for the event of another attack makes the most sense, since then we can make sure how things go... And yeah, I have the Valkyrie training, but I'm also still just that myself, in training. I'm still learning a lot myself, but sure, I'll help, let's go," Zari said, giving her a smile. She was more then happy to see about doing this sort of thing, she wanted to see what all might happen with it in general.

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"A little bit, though some people don't really show their age... How old are you?" she ended up asking the girl, still smiling slightly at her. This was definitely an interesting conversation for her to be having with the little girl, who reminded her still a bit of her own daughter when she was a toddler. The little girl was certainly an entertaining one in general, and she wasn't entirely too sure what to even say beyond to what she was saying in general.

Her attention turned towards the entrance to the area, seeing (and well, more of hearing) Casper and James walk up and start asking questions and having a conversation with Stacey X. Things were beyond strange in her mind, but then again, that more or less was just Casper's personality that made conversations go off track rather quickly. From the looks of things, they might be looking to take in and adopt one of the kids. That was a good thing, made it so that there was going to be one less kid in the entire situation who might not have a home.

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Max leaned back slightly in his bed. Placing his hands to his sides and unknowingly placing one onto Ben's lap. His lips pursed as Jack's name was mentioned. Of course he didn't want to be involved with this. No one in their right mind would get close to this man with a ten foot pole. Yet here they were discussing the possibility of seeking his aid. None of this sat right with Max. His stack began to churn with unease as he shifted his position slightly. "I can't know for certain, but perhaps Sinister brought Jack back as a form of pawn. Maybe a way to get closer to Sunshine. We knows he messed with his mind before and done similar things…" He trailed off in thought, trying to piece together pieces he barely had. "Whatever he wants it can't be good. He can't be trusted. If I knew it was safe I'd ask Ben to snoop around his lab and see if he could find something. But if Sinister is capable of dealing with soul transference then I wouldn't want to risk Ben in that manner."

Max let out a heavy sigh as he looked towards the ground. Books sat at his feet, a thrown shirt, and some wads of paper from his work on this project. "I'm also afraid of what he might do if I owe him a favor. It's bad enough I feel Selene eyeing me up like a prime steak, I can't imagine what he would do if he had the use of my powers at his fingertips." Max took another deep breath in trying to think of other avenues before shaking his head slowly. "As for allies, I'm sure Strange would tell me I'm messing with the natural laws of this world and should halt my research, Wanda may be better help though I doubt I can reach her and convince her otherwise. There's Selene but I don't trust her, and Pixie may be capable of helping. She knows more than she let's on when it comes to souls but I don't know how to approach her on this."

Max wanted so badly to ask Strange for help. Even if he couldn't instruct him directly, knowing the name or history of another Sorcerer who had done the same would be of immense help. Maybe Casper could try to summon them for communication, see what knowledge they can gain, but chances were that any Sorcerer looking for such power may have been doing so down a darker path. "All I have are theories. Nothing can be certain or concrete until it's actually put to the test. But if this does work, if we can bring them back…with his permission I'd like to visit Ben's grave. If I can bring him back too…it seems only fair."

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Harry rolled his eyes and chuckled as Sunshine questioned the morality of the rules on drinking. Of course she would. She's young, rebellious, and does as she pleases. But that didn't make her a bad kid, just a kid. His chuckle turned into more of a grunt as he felt her punch him in the arm. Rubbing the spot she hit with a bit of a hiss of pain. "Ok OK you're not nice." Harry replied, still smiling at her. He looked upon all the pty seats, ghostly outlines of those who were gone shadowing the table as he knew all too well what Sunshine was feeling. He looked over towards Marrow, watching as she waited for Blob to make drinks, before he shifted his gaze back towards Sunshine. There was a heavy sigh, as if he was removing a great weight from his chest but couldn't get any of the air back.

"I miss them too kid." Harry's lip twitched, a falter in his smile as he looked back at the table. "I wish I could tell you that it gets easier. That as the days go by you feel it less and less. But it doesn't. I won't lie to you. I know how you feel because I've been here before. And it doesn't hurt any less now than it did the first time I lost someone. But we keep living. And we keep living our lives for them. Keep them in our hearts and minds and press on how we know they would want us to. The pain will always be there, but you'll learn to manage it. Somedays it may seem unbearable, others may not be so bad, but you're not alone in this. We are all here for you. Trust me, if I could do anything about it I would. In a heartbeat. But I don't have that kind of power. But what I do have is you guys, and…two arms that can lend a hug if you need it."

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It took James a moment to register this entire experience because he really didn't want to believe someone would say something so blatantly suggestive to Casper right in front of James but here they were, he supposed. The tempting image of his fist meeting Stacey's face flashed briefly through his mind but he was a reasonable person and he wouldn't succumb to the irritation bubbling in his stomach or the flair of jealousy making his jaw twitch. Instead, he calmly wrapped his arm around Casper's waist and pulled him closer, putting himself between the two a little.

"We actually wanted to discuss adopting one of the kids. We were talking about starting a family and with so many children needing homes, it seemed like now was the right time. James explained. "I'm not certain what policies and procedures we needed to follow because from what little I understand, adoption is a long process and I wanted to make sure we get everything right."

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The Green Lagoon...

Sunshine sniffled slightly, but nodded at Echo's advice. "I guess," she said noncommittally. "Maybe you don't completely suck at giving advice," she then added, a genuine Sunshine sort-of-compliment. She rubbed her eyes dry on the back of her sleeve, having teared up a bit throughout the conversation. She just wanted to live in a world where they didn't have to hurt all of the time - something she thought was possible on Genosha. But it seemed like no matter where they went, mutants would always be hunted - they would always be struggling to survive in a world where they were hated and feared.

Marrow returned with the drinks, but she wasn't the only one to come on over. Legion had popped up as well. Legion slid into a seat next to Echo and grinned at him. "Hey Harry." Legion's shirt was torn up and covered in dirt, looking like he had crawled through a bunch of blackberry bushes on the way over. His jeans were distressed (hard to tell if they had been when he bought them or if he had ripped them up recently) and also had a fine coating of dirt on them.

"Here you go, babes. And yours," Marrow said, sliding a drink to Sunshine and then Echo's drink on over to him. Marrow then took a seat next to her wife, putting an arm around Sunshine and pulling her in closely. Even though they hadn't known each other very long, she could tell when Sunshine was hurting.

"I forgot your name was Harry," Sunshine said, wrinkling her nose. "Flatscan names are so fucking ugly."

Hellfire Manor...

Mongoose started counting her fingers, before triumphantly coming up with her age to tell Moneta. "I'm one thousand!" she cried out. She then help up her fingers, showing what her actual age was (@Blue, you get to decide how many fingers she's holding up). "I'm an old sea witch and I'm going to rule this world!"

Stacy X chuckled a little bit at James asking about paperwork and forms. "Honestly, as long as you aren't a creep and the kid seems to like you, you can just take them and go. I'll jot down your name next to theirs in this," Stacy then paused, holding up a spiral bound notebook with a suspicious stain on the cover, "aaand that's pretty much it. There aren't any Genoshan laws on adoption."

"Is that... blood? Or really weird looking coffee?" Casper couldn't help but ask, before shaking his head slightly. "Wait, no, I know! That's liquid cotton candy. Classic. That stuff is surprisingly good at stains, I had a friend once who used it to dye their hair on the regular, ooo, James, we should dye my hair! That'd be cute right? Maybe pink tips? Or stripes? Can you do stripes in hair? Wait, sorry, focus Casper, we're here to get a baby - or a kid - is there one you were leaning towards?" Casper rambled, in classic Casper fashion.

"Just take a look around, meet-and-greet with the kids, though if I'd had to bet, it looks like Moneta is going to take Mongoose home, so she's spoken for - the rest... sadly, aren't."

Casper then looked at James. There were kids in cribs - the babies. And then some little kids playing with toys and whatnot. It looked like the oldest kid present there was about 12 years old, maybe 13. The older kids probably were just a little too old for this sort of makeshift orphanage set-up - teens tended to be pretty free-range on Genosha, allowed to do as they liked and pleased. "Soooo which ones speak to you, James-y?" Casper asked.

Outside the Green Lagoon...

Magneto raised an eyebrow. He hadn't anticipating for Jack to be a man of so few words. "How have you been taking to Genosha?" Magneto asked. "The recent tragedy I hope has not shaken your faith in this great work." Magneto was privately hoping that Andy would come back shortly. His mind was fixated largely on the idea of reforming the Brotherhood of Mutants here on Genosha. The more he thought about it, the more intoxicating it became. Strength was what they needed to survive - and Magneto would cultivate it however he could.

Max's Room...

Veil pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment, thinking on everything Max had said. For the most part, she was in total agreement with him. "If Sinister is using Jack as a pawn... then a pawn for what?" Veil posed. Max had floated the idea that it was to get close to Sunshine, but that line of thought didn't ring true to her. It didn't seem right. She had no idea why Sinister would want to go after her, especially given that he now was in a position of power on Genosha, unfortunately. "He's on the Quiet Council now as well - he's at his most powerful. Maybe... Maybe he resurrected Jack to get leverage on someone. Jack's mother? She's got ties to powerful mutants."

"You could try talking to Renegade, she actually might know something," Ben voiced, before sighing. "What's the fucking point of me actually saying anything right now? This is EXACTLY what it's like when Casper's done so many stupid drugs that his powers won't work. I'm stuck, in this in-between, and no one can hear me! Gah!" Ben punched the wall behind him for dramatic effect, but of course, his hand just harmlessly passed through.

"I agree on it being risky for Ben though - we were lucky we weren't caught when we went to Bar Sinister and did some investigating," Veil said. She nodded a bit. Pixie seemed like someone they could probably trust, even if her pure black eyes were mildly unnerving at times. Selene rubbing Max the wrong way - that also made sense. Selene seemed pretty dramatic. "As for visiting his grave... I think you'd need to ask Ben that... Is Ben here with us right now?"

"Does it even matter if I'm here?" Ben sulked.

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Callie looked at Jack as he listed a bunch of names, Strange she didnt really know aside from what Max had said could be helpful, and Selene was definitely in the same boat as Sinister to not be trusted really. Scarlet Witch could help maybe she wasnt sure where she was at the moment, which left Pixie to help them out. "Alright then lets see if we can get some help from Pixie maybe." Callie said, she really wasnt sure why Sinister even brought Jack back to life in the first place. She knew that he obviously didnt do it out of the kindness of his heart there had to be something to it.

"If Sinister wanted Sunshine wouldn't he have gotten to her by now, since her and Jack werent frozen like the rest of us during our time in ice?" Callie said before she stood up setting the ball that Max had been tossing up and down a few times down onto the bedside table looking at Max and then at Veil asking of Ben was here. She had seen horror movies and those ghost shows on TV from time to time, Callie wasnt sure if Ben ever interacted with the outside world being dead and all. "Just a thought but you don't happen to have a Ouija Board laying around do you? If not lets go and pay Pixie a visit."

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"Cool." Andy smiled brightly. "Get your stuff gathered up and meet me outside with Magneto." She dashed back outside finding Magneto and Jack talking. She slowed down seeing Jack. He was one of the group, but she didn't know him all that well. She liked Veil and Veil trusted Jack so she smiled as she approached.

"Hello Jack." She said before turning to Magneto. "Zari is coming." Since Magneto had sort of adopted them it wasn't like it would be unreasonable for Andy and Zari to be leaving with him. Andy shifted from one foot to the other while waiting for Zari. She felt like she interrupted Jack and Magneto's conversation but at the same time, it hadn't seemed like they were deep into conversation.

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Max listened intently on what Veil had to say. She had some good points, and more knowledge than he did on certain matters. Sinister was on the Quiet Council. That gave him a certain amount of power on this island that he could likely throw around. The question of why still hung in the air. It didn't make sense for him to have just done so without some scheme layered behind it. The idea it may have been to get under Renegade proved to have some merit. Perhaps they would need to speak to her, find out what her relationship with Sinister is. Max froze for a second, thinking. Her powers could potentially be used to suffuse a lifetime of memories into a host. She showed Max his true self back in Wandaworld. Could she have given Jack all his memories after having been cloned without his notice?

Max didn't want to throw around accusations. It'd get them nowhere and would only make him seem more paranoid than he is. This would be a thread he'd need to follow by himself. He tried to focus more on a plan, when Callie walked past and placed his ball back onto his nightstand. She asked him if he had a Ouija Board, and Max shook his head quietly. [Color=aba400]"No. Much good it would do anyway. I teased about the idea earlier but…Ben hasn't shown any ability to manipulate physical items within our world. So chances are he can't move the planchet. Not without possessing one of us, which again he's never shown to be able to do. [/i]However[/i]..."[/color] Max snapped his fingers, magic trailing off like a spark before forming a Spirit Box beside him. He turned on the instrument, sound emanating from it. Static constantly being cut off, the speed hardly allowing for words to be formed unless a spirit willed them so. "This noisy little thing is what Caspers named after. It's a Spirit Box. Supposedly ghosts can talk to us through it. It picks up what they say and uses the radio waves to transmit it or something. So…Ben, if you're here, can you try and use it? I'd love to hear your input."

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Harry smiled at Sunshine as she gave him the best compliment she could muster. Kids. He thought to himself. He figured one day she'd find a way to open up more, she'd already grown so much from when he first met her, having her actually tear up in front of someone…it was huge in comparison to where he'd seen her start. "That's what I've been told. I give excellent, just ok advice. Best ok advice there ever is to hear." He said teasingly. Their conversation was cut short as Legion joined them at the table, sitting next to Harry, covered in a thin layer of dirt, scratches, and a grin that made him mildly nervous. "Hey David. Uh, why do you look like you just lost a match with a mulberry bush?" Harry managed to chuckle out.

Marrow came back, sliding his drink towards him while comforting Sunshine. Harry had his concerns about her at first. She seemed like a rough and tumble kid that would only bring Sunshine trouble, but he could see that she really cared for her and offered her support no one else was capable of doing. He thanked Marrow for the drink, taking a sip from the cup before quirking an eyebrow at Sunshine. "I rather like Harry thank you very much. Makes me feel like I don't have to be a hero 24/7. Besides I'm only ever really Echo when I…well you know Echo myself."

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"I mean, it isn't all that bad around here, despite being here for a while, still a little bit to get used to in general with it. But yeah, bit different then what I'm used to," he responded with a bit of a shrug in general with it. What he said was the truth, but he very much still wasn't too thrilled that even with there being so many people on the island, there was still a chance to run into Sinister. He didn't even know what he'd say to him, but since he actively was avoiding him, hopefully it wouldn't happen ever.

His attention was drawn away within a few moments though when Andy and Zari walked up, and saying hello before mentioning that Zari was going to join them for, something. Whatever it was. Personally he didn't really think to ask, since prying at this point was probably not the best option, so he decided not to question it at all. The kids did tend to more or less hang around with Magneto a bit, so it wasn't too surprising that they seemingly were planning something with him.

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"Yeah, no problem, give me a minute," Zari commented, before she more or less started scrambling around, grabbing the few things she had sort of lying around, namely her tools, bag, and her robots in general. She would just hate to see what would happen to Mr. Eyeball and Mr. Jaws if she left them lying around where anyone could mess with them. Or potentially break them. That would not end well, and she would likely see about maybe severely injuring whoever was the responsible for damaging them.

She turned to look at the floating robotic eye, "Come along Mr. Eyeball, we're going to see about doing something fun don't ya think?" she said happily, before she followed along out of the Green Lagoon, and following Andy until she saw Magneto, who was talking to Jack. Zari did wonder a bit what they were talking about, but she was just smiling happily as she walked up. "Hey there everyone how are you?" she asked them, looking at the pair.

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Miranda giggled slightly, smiling as she saw the little girl hold up 3 fingers when she spoke, saying that she was a thousand years old. "Wow... A thousand years old? You must know a lot, and a sea witch too? That is rather impressive," she said giving the little girl another smile. She was vaguely listening to the conversation with regards to James and Casper potentially adopting one of the kids or so. That would be interesting, and she couldn't help but wonder how good of parents they would be. Though her mind snapped to attention when Stacy X mentioned that she seemed likely to adopt Mongoose.

Was she really ready to see about parenting a child? Her own children were grown up and long gone, and she only had experience with babies and toddlers, much older then that? Well that was a bit much for her to really think about too much. Adopting a kid was a bit of a responsibility, and it definitely would change how things were in her life if she decided to go through with it. But the kids really needed someone there for them, and maybe she should see about adopting Mongoose. She still wasn't entirely too sure.