“Well, that’s way less complicated than I’d made it in my head.” James laughed awkwardly, even as Casper continued on about liquid cotton candy as hair coloring. He snorted at the idea, making a mental note to keep an eye on Casper around food dye for a few days just in case he decided to replicate the effect, as he turned to look over the nursery. “Babes, everything you rock looks great. Pink would look amazing on you.” James replied absently, gears turning in his head already.
There was a lot to consider. The fact of the matter, James knew their little family wasn’t going to be the most structured. Casper was bound to be the “fun parent”, spoiling their kid rotten and letting them get away with just about anything as long as Casper thought it was an interesting experience, but with Casper’s OCD about ignoring boundaries and testing reasonable limits, Casper unsupervised with a kid was going to be a bad decision for a while. James was going to have to keep an eye on them both and he was well aware that he didn't have the healthiest of coping methods (i.e. ignore it until it goes away) for all the insanity that had happened over the past year. It would take some time to figure out their parenting dynamic, this new found peace still fragile and tentative, so adopting a baby might be a better fit for them and a kid so they had time to iron out a few wrinkles before the kid started remembering their fuck ups. Plus, giving them an opportunity to grow into the craziness that is bound to surround them would probably be better than throwing in a fully cognizant child into the Underground’s perpetual state of scrambling.
“I think we should adopt a baby?” James told Casper, slipping his hand back into Casper’s as he walked towards the cribs. “Maybe the constant scrambling that us Underground people seem to inevitably get into will be easier to handle if they grow into it.” James explained, wandering towards the cribs.
"Oh," Sunshine said, when Echo explained the reasons for liking Harry better. "Well, flatscan names are still dumb... I guess yours is fine or whatever," she said with a shrug. It was pretty much the closest she would get to walking back what she had said. She didn't usually express positive feelings or emotions in words, but she did care about Echo - at least as much as she had cared about Fred the Rat, her long lost best friend.
"Yeah, imagine naming your kid Electra," Marrow teased.
"Hey!" Sunshine protested. "As flatscan names go, it's not as bad as, like, Bob or whatever... Or Sarah." she giggled. Marrow rolled her eyes at her wife, before kissing Sunshine on the forehead and downing her own drink, while Sunshine began to sip hers.
"I do? Oh! I do," Legion said with a laugh, looking at his clothes. "Is it concerning if I admit I have no idea how I ended up like this?" Legion then asked. "Did I look like this last time you saw me? The last thing I remember was.... what's today? It was a Tuesday last I remember."
Hellfire Manor...
"Well, duh," Mongoose told Moneta, giggling. "I'm the scariest sea witch alive! I have to be impressive or people won't love me." She then broke out into a huge grin, revealing some gaps in her teeth from where baby teeth had fallen out and new ones hadn't quite come in properly yet.
"Do you know how to handle a baby? Like... how do we feed it? We don't have boobs. Do we just... borrow milk from someone? Oh, duh, there has to be milk at the.... store? Wait, we don't have stores here really. Is there a baby milk line somewhere on the island?" Casper inquired. Food tended to be served at the Lagoon and then in other random locations on the island. James, as he was the type to pay attention to things when Casper didn't, would know that the hospital distributed formula and whatnot to parents who needed it for their babies for whatever reason.
Casper had wandered over with James to the cribs, and he peered down into them. There was a decent selection/assortment/whatever of babies there to choose from - a fact that made him actually tear up slightly. All of the trauma from the attack had been a lot on the island, but seeing these little babies, all alone because of it... It really struck him in a moment when he hadn't been expecting it. "Can we adopt all of them?" Casper asked James, sniffling a bit."It's so sad..."
Outside the Green Lagoon...
Internally, Magneto was a bit relieved when Andy came over and said Valkyrie would be joining them - he held nothing against Stretch, but Stretch wasn't saying anything particularly engaging. Magneto had expected more from him - after all, he was Renegade's son. And Renegade was anything but lukewarm when it came to an interaction. "Ah good. I'm glad you'll be coming with us, Valkyrie. Stretch, I am afraid we must be off - we have important business to attend to," Magneto said, before offering a hand to each Valkyrie and Andy if they wished to hold his hand, before sweeping out of the Green Lagoon and heading in the direction of the rebuilt House of M. The House of M didn't have any non-metallic furniture in it at the moment, but it was at least functional.
"I need a favor of you, my boy," a voice then whispered into Jack's head.
Max's Room...
Veil winced slightly as Max turned on the spirit box - it was essentially screeching what sounded like random static at them and she covered her ears. "I can see why Casper's mutant name is after this thing," Veil quipped. It reminded her of really bad, screech-y techno music. She couldn't help but wonder if it hurt the spirit's ears just as much as it hurt hers - or was it somehow softened in the afterlife? Was there some sort of audial distortion?
The pitch of the box changed for a brief moment, becoming a lower sound, before going back to its normal horrible screeches. "... Was that you, Ben?" Veil asked, uncovering her ears ever so slightly, before covering them up again. This thing was really getting on her nerves, but it sounded like something had tried to come through for a brief moment there - or maybe it had been her imagination entirely. It was too bad Casper wasn't there to communicate with Ben, but at the same time, Veil did wonder if Casper was always a reliable translator.
"I'm here," the spirit box said. It was hard to say if the voice sounded like Ben's or not. The screeching static then resumed, before the tail end of a sentence came through, "Sinister."
"...Is there any way you can make this easier on him? Clearer, maybe?" Veil asked Max.
Callie looked at Max as he mentioned that a Ouija Board wouldnt work, she wasnt really sure about it since they seemed to work in horror movies and what not. She then raised an eyebrow as Max summoned up a spirit box onto the bed and turned it on, and started to hear all of the sounds coming out of it. A part of her did wish that Waverly was here so that way she could possibly work on getting a much better signal out of it and all.
"Yeah this thing is pretty loud and annoying." Callie said wincing slightly at the loud sounds coming from it and looked at Veil before she could hear a voice coming out of it. "Alright it seems to work a little bit then." Callie said staring down at the spirit box, she crossed her arms slightly. "Can you repeat that again Ben?" Callie asked it sounded more like a cell phone that was loosing it's signal a part of her did wish that they had Casper there with them.
Location: Outside the Green Lagoon -> House of M Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (passive)
When Zari joined them Andy smiled. She was excited about the chance to get to build something from the ground up. She had never been involved in anything like that. Her only experience with anything close to that was the Gym the Drummonds ran, but that had already been around when she moved in. So now she got to be part of something new. Got to be the person who was responsible for it. She hoped it would work out for the better.
Andy took Magneto's hand. She didn't think much of it, but he had adopted her. So it made sense to her. In her heart, she was still Andy Drummond, but she could also be Thundering Champion. "See ya." She smiled at Jack and let herself be led back to the House of M.
At the house, she said to Zari. "There is a lot going on, that I don't even really understand. But when Magneto said what the council was planning a party rather than trying to make sure we would be safe from something like that happening again. I thought why can't we start something to protect the island. If this is going to be our home we should find a way to protect it. I think that's more useful than a party."
Location: Green Lagoon Skills: Basic Spellcraft, ConjurationNew Outfit
For a moment Max was beginning to think his plan was only good for giving them all a headache. He'd always hated hearing Spirit Boxes on T.V., but hearing them in real life was somehow even more annoying. As the screeching began to die down to a lower pitch, Max leaned in closer waiting for it to work. But the warbler mess of static only continued afterwards, causing Max to droop his shoulders in disappointment. Just as he was about to give up and call it a day, a voice came in loud and clear. Max practically jumped out of his skin as the sound startled him just before entering back into a series of static sounds. "It worked. It worked! Casper you brilliant idiot" Whether or not Casper had chosen his hero name knowing that this device would actually function was unknown. But it did and that's all that mattered.
The second word came in as the tail end of a sentence ended. Nothing to go by but it did tell them that Ben was struggling to use the device. Veil and he had the same idea, find a way to make this easier on Ben. Immediately Max hopped off his bed, placing the Spirit Box onto the center of the floor and clearing up some of his mess. He threw his bundled shirt over a stack of books that lay on the ground, shoving them all under his bed before his hands began to conduct a small symphony of magic. Marigold petals and flowers began to sprinkle in a circle onto the ground surrounding the box. In an inner ring, scented candles began to appear, each one flickering to life as the smell of French vanilla peppered the air. Max shut off the light to his room allowing for it to only be candlelit before adding the final offering.
Max had it under very good advice that McDonalds was the go to way to contact ghosts. After all, it was the way of the ghost king and why would that be a lie? OK plenty of reasons why but that didn't stop Max from trying. He summoned Happy Meals, Double Cheeseburgers, Big Macs, and Quarter Pounders, Chicken Nuggets, and an array of sodas from McDonalds. All placed in the center surrounding the box that he needed Ben to speak through. "I give this offering of food to you Ben, so that you may contact us with ease. May it find you in your realm."
Echo
Location: Green Lagoon Skills:
Harry gave Sunshine a crooked half-smile. Chuckling a bit as he spoke about flatscan names. "I suppose most flatscan names are dumb." He didn't expect her to ever take back what she'd already said. She was a strong headed individual and a teen besides. If ever they were to admit their faults the world would freeze over…again. The chemistry between Sunshine and Marrow was a refreshing change of pace. The way they lovingly teased each other back and forth, how natural each one felt around the other, it was a familiar sentiment that Harry could understand. Of course to counteract their relationship, there was David.
He had no recollection of how he got to looking like such a mess, nor did he apparently recall the last time they'd seen each other. Harry let out a bit of a concerned sigh at the news, a little more than confused at David's last known day. "Well, let's see. I last saw you about three days ago, where you in fact didn't look like this. As for what day it is…" Harry couldn't tell if David was on the right day, or a week behind, trying to study his face as if they could give him some answers. "Today is Tuesday. More specifically August 3rd. Hopefully you haven't lost a week, but if you have I'm sure we could find it and figure out why you're so banged up."
"We couldn't take care of all of them, let alone give them all the level of attention and love they'll need." James rubbed Casper's back soothingly when he heard the sniffling. "It's better for us to give a home to one and then maybe we could work to help find homes for the rest." James suggested, not knowing how much help he'll be with that. Between adopting and setting up the festival, it was already going to be a long few weeks.
James looked across the cribs and he understood why Casper was feeling the way he was. This was something that nobody could fix. No one could give these kids their families back, no party or festival was ever going to fix that loss. The only thing they could do was to give them shelter and food and love so that hopefully, they would make it through okay. They couldn't fix everything, there would always be a scar, but together, James hoped the community could help each other heal.
James' eyes stopped on one baby, his little hands opening and closing as he brought them to his mouth. Grey eyes were trained on him and Casper and James stepped towards him. "Hey there little guy." James cooed softly as he stopped at the crib.
"See ya then," Jack said with a bit of a wave, as he watched the group leave heading towards the House of M. He was about to head back into the Green Lagoon, when a very familiar (and annoying) voice started poking into his mind and spoke to him. Oh no, this was the one person he wanted nothing at all to talk about with regards to anything. So why the hell was his father talking to him now? Especially since he was pretty sure that he had made it fairly clear that he didn't want to talk to him ever. Jack still hadn't fully come to terms with the whole being brought back from the dead thing, and still questioned if he was even actually him still. "Remind me why I'd help you or whatever? And what exactly do you want?"
"Tsk tsk, do you lack imagination my dear boy? And I need you to fetch a sample for me."
"No, I just don't trust you, at all, what is this about? And you still haven't given me a reason for why I'd actually help you."
"Perhaps the fact that you continue to breathe is enough. Or should I give you further incentive? Have you asked after your mother’s health?"
"I didn't exactly ask for that, and don't you dare bring up my mom!"
"Maybe you should talk to Éliette before you refuse me."
"...What exactly fully do you want, what sample or whatever, and why try to get me to get it for you? Can't you get it yourself?"
"I need a DNA sample. From Selene."
"How the hell am I supposed to do that? What makes you think I can? And why can't you do it? Odds are you probably could do it easily!" Jack still wasn't too sure what he should really do with this situation. He did not trust his father, at all, and the fact that he was asking him for something did not sit well. Especially considering the fact that he was also holding the whole I brought you back from the dead thing over him, and he wasn't too sure how this was going to end.
Location: The Green Lagoon -> House of M Skills: N/A
"Bye," she said happily with a bit of a wave, before taking Magneto's other hand and following them towards the House of M. Zari wasn't entirely too sure what to think about the whole idea and all with creating sort of a security force or army or something to protect the island or something like that. Truthfully, she wasn't entirely sure what the whole plan was in general, it was a bit weird, but oh well, she figured she'd find out soon enough.
Once at the House of M, she listened to what Andy was talking about, and how the council was apparently planning on throwing a big party or something like that, and it sounded like it bugged her. This confused her a little bit, since usually any sort of fighting, battle or war tended to result in throwing a big party or feast or something like that, or at least it was like that back home for her. It was becoming fairly obvious even more so that things were very different here. "I mean something to protect the island makes sense... But I don't see what's wrong with a party. Where I'm from, a big party, or a feast or something like that happens after a great battle or a war has been fought, in celebration, and also at times in a way to remember those who were lost and how they are going to be rejoicing in Valhalla now. So... Making a a group or whatever to protect the island makes sense... But also the party thing makes perfect sense to me to." she said with a bit of a shrug.
Location: Hellfire Manor Skills: N/A
The little girl continued to make Miranda laugh a little bit in general, she certainly was a bit of a strange one, and she still found that sort of amusing. She still was sort of listening to what was going on with Casper and James, as they were deciding to take in a baby, which made her glad that at least they were going to take in one of the kids. Even though there was still a lot of kids there, them taking in even one was the best thing she could think of for it and all. That was a good thing. Her mind went back to adopting one of her own, and she finally decided on it for certain.
"...I don't think you need to try to be super impressive so people will like you, I think you are the best just the way you are, you don't have to impress anyone..." she said to her with a smile, before thinking that she was going to ask her the other thing she wanted to. "Hey Mongoose... Do you want to come home with me? I'll adopt you, if you want me to," she said, figuring it was best to ask the girl and see what she wanted as opposed to just not caring or anything. It mattered what the little girl wanted in her mind.
David's face lit up. "So it is Tuesday then!" he said happily. "Don't tell the others I said this, but sometimes it really sucks to just... wake up and have missed an entire week or so of my life," he complained. However, he didn't want to let those thoughts get him down. He had come to seek out Echo for a reason. "I came to ask you something, though... Can we talk in private? I mean, the others will probably know what happens, but..." his eyes flickered more towards Sunshine and Marrow.
"Ugh, fine," Sunshine said, getting up. "Come on, babes," she said, taking Marrow's hand as they walked off to another table.
Now that they were alone, Legion looked almost nervous and bashful. "Soo I was hoping to ask... Do you need a boyfriend? And if so... Could that boyfriend be me?"
Hellfire Manor...
Mongoose looked at Miranda for a second, seemingly seriously considering the offer. "Will I get to have candy for dinner? I want candy for dinner," Mongoose reiterated. "And dress-up gowns!"
Casper nodded, knowing that James was right. They couldn't actually take care of all of these babies. Casper didn't even know if he was qualified to take care of one baby - he had never had a particularly paternal instinct before, but with James... With James it just felt right to try and raise a little kid, especially one who life had been so cruel to. And the instant Casper's eyes fell on the little baby James had been drawn to, with the beautiful grey eyes, Casper's heart grew three sizes.
"Awww, hey there Grey Eyes," Casper cooed, wagging a finger at the baby. He didn't actually know how to interact with a baby. The baby gurgled and raised a hand up at James and Casper, a bit of drool dribbling down the baby's chin. The baby was wearing pajamas with little X's - like the X-Men logo - on them. Stacy X had an interesting sense of humor, it seemed. "I'm sorry about those clothes. We'll get you something better. You look like a straight person dressed you."
Outside the Green Lagoon...
"Of course I could do it - except for there's a pesky little problem, Selene has warding against magic users taking her blood and I've happened to dabble in some magic, sooo I can't actually do it. But you can, boyo. As for how you do it - aren't you a con artist? Figure it out. Do the Essex name proud and I'll ensure your mother gets her cure.
The Rebuilt House of M...
Magneto had perhaps been a bit overdramatic - the Council had other initiatives in mind towards the safety of the island, with the party they were putting on being designed towards boosting morale. Of course, Magneto didn't think very highly of the current safety measures put into place on the island. They hadn't been enough to prevent this attack, not even Selene's promised spellwork had been able to stop the invaders - her Coven had failed. It was time for Magneto to build a Coven of his own. The X-Men weren't here to protect Genosha - but the Brotherhood of Mutants would.
He was a bit intrigued by what Valkyrie said, but he assumed she was a Norse pagan from the beginning - especially with a name like that. "That may be your culture, Valkyrie, and perhaps it is what the Council wishes to establish as our mutant culture... But I have seen too many of my people slaughtered to celebrate in their wake," Magneto said bitterly. "To create our War College, our new Brotherhood, I believe it would be apt to organize into classes of power types... Do you two have any suggestions on how to group up powers?"
Max's Room...
"... Is this, like, a published method?" Veil couldn't help but ask. She could understand the candles, sort of, but the petals and the McDonalds was throwing her off. It was like Max had pitched a romantic candlelit dinner of burgers, chicken nuggets, and fries for Ben - which Veil was sure Ben was probably very moved by, but she didn't know if that would actually help him to use the Spirit Box more. Of course, she didn't know anything about contacting the dead, so it wasn't like she could offer any constructive feedback.
The static in the box increased tenfold, Veil plugging her ears once more, before a voice cut through - this time, able to utter out more or less a complete sentence - "-- little formal, but okay."
"Shit, I retract my skeptical view, apparently McDonalds dates with a ghost really do work," Veil said, her eyes a little wide. She had gotten somewhat used to Casper always talking to ghosts, but something still sent a chill down her spine as they talked to Ben. "Ben, what were you trying to say about Sinister?" Veil asked again.
"--trust--him--it's too dangerous, you'll get yourselves killed. Don't do it."
Callie looked down at Max for a moment as he started to use his powers and started to create candles around him along with some petals around the bed and spirit box. The next thing she saw was a bunch of McDonald's food spread out all over the bed, and started to remember the Percy Jackson Books and grew up reading them when she was little. "Someone knows a certain book series it looks like." Callie said looking over at Max, remembering a character had done that to communicate with the dead. But it did seem to work a little bit better hearing Ben a little more clearer this time around.
The first word was cut off, but she knew that Ben meant to say don't trust Sinister, which none of them at all really did trust him at all letting out a slight sigh. "We definitely know that we can't trust him at all, but there has to be a way that we can bring you and the others back somehow." Callie said crossing her arms over her chest and sighed a little bit.
Location: House of M Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (passive)
Andy had never really given that much of a thought. "I suppose that makes sense." She chewed her lip thinking. If the party was to celebrate the lives of those who died she could sort of understand it. She didn't like the idea of a party that was designed to make you forget though. She wouldn't want to forget. Magento steered the conversation back to designing a protection group.
"Hmm, we already have a system sort of like boxing. With heavyweights being Omegas and stuff. But if you mean a more broken down version we could do like people with physical powers, mental, elemental, and transportation. I think it'd be a good idea to have teams be comprised of one of each of the major things. So people can cover each other's weaknesses. Like I'm better in close quarters but sometimes you'll be fighting someone you can't get into close quarters with. So I'd need someone that can fight at range to back me up."
That was one thing that weighed heavily on Andy. Sometimes in a fight, she was useless because she couldn't get up close and personal and punch. Her electricity also wasn't like others where they could shoot it, she could only have it in a small field around her and it basically required touching her opponent. Though she had the chain from the fight with the smoke person still and she could channel her power through that, so that gave her some range. But it wasn't like Callie.
Location: Green Lagoon Skills: Basic Spellcraft, ConjurationNew Outfit
Max thought about Veil's question for a moment as he waited to see if his plan would work, or if he'd only managed to make more of a fool of himself. "Um. Yeah it's published" By Disney Hyperion publishing but she doesn't need to know that He thought to himself after answering her question. Suddenly the rapid screeching of the spirit box had stopped and a sentence flowed through. There was a bit more sass than Max had anticipated, but then again it was hard to know what to anticipate when Casper was the typical go between for translation. He looked down at the meal of burgers and Nuggets and began to wonder how that was formal, or did he mean the little speech he made just beforehand? The box still wasn't working fully, but it was more than what they had been getting.
Veil's comment caught Max by surprise, as he was certain that his little antics caught all three of them by surprise. There was a twinge of happiness coursing through him at the moment. Both due to the fact that something he'd read in the Percy Jackson series had actually come to work, and also in the fact that he was successfully finding ways to use his magic in supplemental manners. He didn't have to bother Strange or reading a book in Sanskrit or halfway between Latin and Greek, to find his own solution to a problem. Max tried not to make eye contact with Callie as she called him out on his source of 'knowledge'. Of course all of that went out the window as soon as Ben spoke again. As everyone was now all in agreement, Sinister wasn't to be trusted.
"So, we can't trust Sinister, and I can't know for certain how far right I am with my planning. I can talk to Pixie, see if she has any more knowledge that I may be overlooking or just outright don't know. After that I'd need a willing soul. Not everything translates perfectly into the world but in some books (primarily his d&d books) if the soul isn't willing to return then any attempt to bring a person back will fail. Ben, don't bother volunteering. I won't have it. Casper wouldn't let me hear the end of it if something went wrong and we lost you forever. And I wouldn't let myself live it down either. As much as I hate to say it, aside from gathering a bit more information all that's really left to do is enter a test phase and see what doesn't and doesn't stick." A part of him wanted to reach out to Strange and ask him how much of alchemy was real? Did Quintessence actually exist? Or was it truly a crock of a science? After all, supposedly Chakras were a sham and they turned out to be real.
Echo
Location: Green Lagoon Skills:
Tension left Harry's shoulders that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. The news that David hadn't lost a week was amazing, because then he wouldn't have to wonder who he was with three days prior or if he would even remember. All that tension came rushing back as he was asked to talk in private. His back straightened as he felt a chill run up his spine while Sunshine surprisingly agreed to David's demands. He wanted to say that anything he needed help with he could ask in front of the others, but Harry also understood that wanting to keep certain aspects private was natural for some matters. Especially when it came to someone who had just believed to have lost a week of time.
First Harry's shoulders lowered, the chills leaving him as soon as David began to speak again. Then his cheeks flushed as his heart felt like a pad of butter on a warm stove top. It'd been a while since he'd been asked out, and this was certainly one way to ask someone out. Harry scooted closer to David, placing his hand onto David's with a warm smile. "Well? I wasn't looking for a boyfriend. But now that you mention it I have a spot reserved just for you. That is if you can handle all five of me" Harry replied jokingly. "I'd be honored to go out with you"
James snorted, silently agreeing as he gently wiped away the baby’s drool, and carefully picked him up. James cradled the baby, head resting in the crook of his arm, and rocked gently side to side. “How do you feel about taking this little one home with us?” James asked, choking back the urge to sob.
With all that had happened, James never really thought this would happen. He certainly wasn’t certain anyone would survive, let alone survive long enough to fall in love, decide they were the ones for each other, start a family together. He’d started running on the assumption that was just a luxury for flat scans, honestly. But now here, this baby in his arms and his soulmate at his side, he’d been proven wrong.
"I can think of a hundred other problems with that. Firstly, I would not call myself a con artist, even though being able to lie and manipulate people sometimes has its uses when it came to what my job was, I don't tend to really like doing it if I don't have to. Secondly, I have no idea where the hell Selene is, as she could be just about anywhere on this island. Thirdly, why would I ever want to get close to her enough to be able to get her blood or hair or whatever, don't you think that might raise suspicion? And then finally, don't ever say anything about making the Essex name proud, ever. I want to be as far from that name as possible if it wasn't obvious."
He very much thought that this was a dumb thing to even attempt to really be doing at this point, it was ridiculous. He didn't trust his father, never really wanted to talk to him while on the island, and yet his father was trying to get him to do something for him. Something mind you, that could go horribly wrong and he felt like he could end up dead. Of course, not like he hadn't died before, but still, walking towards death again probably wasn't the best thing, since he figured that would end poorly in the end.
Location: House of M Skills: N/A
"...I was just saying, I can see how people might want to have a party and such, it makes perfect sense to me," she responded with a shrug. That's all she really meant with it, though she wasn't even entirely sure what to really expect with regards to what this whole plan or something that they were thinking of doing, what it was going to be. They didn't seem to have the whole thing planned out in general, seemed it was more of a general idea rather then a concrete thing really.
She listened to what Andy was suggesting, and she thought about it for a moment, about how to group people up or whatever for it. "Well, you'd have to be a bit more specific then just those basic 4 things... Since my powers could be considered "mental", but they aren't what people would consider that, since most people would think likely more of a telepath or something like that... It might be better to go more of like off of sorting into more of fighting type then power types. Since as you mentioned Andy, you'd likely need someone as a range fighter in whatever group you're in, because of how your powers, that would be considered elemental, work. Whereas with me, my powers can be considered more ranged as a technopath, but, my fighting style and durability tends to result in me being a more up close fighter. But that's also because I'm more comfortable doing that and was trained in sword fighting and in working in teams.... So sorting into specific power categories might not be the best... " Plus she obviously had the few other tricks up her sleeve when it came to fighting, but she wasn't going to explain all of that.
Location: Hellfire Manor Skills: N/A
She once again had to stop herself from laughing a little bit at what Mongoose was saying with regards to everything. Her answers to Miranda's question were amusing, and it was reminding her of the fact that little kids said the weirdest things, and had the strangest priorities with everything. Of course, children were naive, and seemed to just have a sort of weird strange way of seeing the world, and honestly it was nice to be able to see the world through the eyes of a child at times.
"Well... Things are a bit strange now with that aren't they? You can't have candy for dinner, but you can have it for dessert or a snack during the day. As for dress-up gowns, well, we'll have to see how what we might be able to do about that," she said, "So, what do you say? Do you want to stay with me?" Mongoose hadn't exactly answered the question, so she figured that she might as well ask about it again, keep her on topic about it.
Legion chuckled. "Five of you? That's rookie numbers. I'm pretty sure there's thousands of me - hence the name Legion," he joked. However, he was clearly delighted that Echo had said yes. He had never had a boyfriend before really, for obvious reasons - or at least, not one that he could remember having. He wouldn't have been too surprised if some of the others had dated and just not shared that knowledge with him. David stared into Echo's mind, before using the power that David had primary control over - telepathy. And suddenly, Echo would find himself on the astral plane (his astral form will reflect how Echo truly sees himself, up to you how this looks). David was floating along with him, looking mostly the same, his hair all messy and spiked up.
"Can I kiss you?" Legion then asked.
Hellfire Manor...
Casper was unsuccessful in resisting the urge to sob. He didn't know he could already feel so fiercely attached to a little poop machine, but he was. It was like the three of them had always been a family together, it just felt so right and so natural. He didn't even know that he had wanted to be a father until this very moment. "Y-yes!" Casper squeaked, blinking his eyes rapidly. "Ugh, I'm crying like a little bitch," he said, laughing a little bit.
"Uh, sorry, I mean I'm crying like a little..." he paused, trying to think of the right word, "... crying person? We can swear still, right? The baby's not old enough to pick up swear words, right? Also, do you have a name in mind? I honestly can't think of anything except for not Kevin at the moment... Does the baby have a name already?" he then asked, looking at Stacy X.
"Doll, I think you can rename a baby if you want. I can go check the files on that one in specific for ya, but most of the information we have on these kids is incomplete - it was hard enough just trying to figure out who their parents had been. Odds are, we don't know the kid's name."
Meanwhile, Mongoose beamed slightly at the idea of having candy for desserts and snacks - and playing dress-up. "Suuuure," she answered as Miranda asked her if she wanted to come with her. Things had been traumatic recently and Mongoose's trauma response was pretty much to block out all the painful memories and just focus on the good things. This seemed like a good thing.
Outside the Green Lagoon...
"Ugh, why are you like this... Just be a good little boy and do this for your father. You don't want your mother to die, do you? Cancer's painful. Nasty in the end. Human treatments just aren't there yet. And from what Doctor Nemesis has told me, even the strongest mutant healers haven't been able to handle it... Probably because it's not cancer."
The Rebuilt House of M...
Magneto raised an eyebrow at Champion's proposal, already noting one flaw in the power classifications. "Where would you put the master of magnetism then?" he asked her. Elemental was technically the closest match to his powers, but not quite. There were other mutants who were power siphons and mimics who couldn't fall neatly into any of those either. And of course, the witches and demons - those who commanded the mystical arts. He then listened to Valkyrie's proposal, which was based off of fighting styles, yet already filled with some complications as apparently it wouldn't neatly classify her either.
Magneto frowned. There had to be a way to train mutants effectively to fight. His mind flashed to his old beau, Charles Xavier. "Perhaps we organize our Brotherhood into squads, each with an assigned mentor experienced in using their mutant gifts to fight. We will train them to fight as units... The Akademos should be sufficient to ensure everyone at least knows how to control their mutant gifts, so we needn't worry about that." He then paused, eyeing the two girls. "Fight me. I wish to see your strength." He then said abruptly.
Max's Room...
Static rushed through the spirit box - even with Max managing to boost the connection, it was tenuous at best. Veil was still shocked that it was able to work at all. It seemed like something ghost hunters on TV would use, something that could never actually give proof of the supernatural, that ghosts walked among them. "Can we ask anyone to test this out?" Veil asked, meaning morally, not practically. "It isn't fair for us to refuse to let Ben try if it's dangerous and kill someone else's soul by accident."
The static broke, with Ben's speech coming through. "I'm going to be the test case. You'll need my body... But it's in New Orleans. And you'll need a--" static then cut in again, interrupting Ben. The spirit box was beginning to overheat - it would be hot to the touch. The waves Ben was manipulating in order to speak to them must've been producing a lot of heat.
"... Well, what if it's like Build-A-Bear?" Veil suggested. "I'm not a wizard or anything, and I haven't read whatever necromancy book you two have, but maybe we need to get a viable, living body - find some way to transfer the soul into the body, maybe Casper could do that? And probably some crazy, chaotic element of luck." Veil didn't know it, but she had stumbled upon an important number in mystical rituals - Three. A ritual circuit of Casper, James, and Max had the potential to raise the dead. Casper to guide the soul, James to heal and restore the body, and Max for that chaotic special something that would alter the threads of Fate.
You can use a magic ritual of three to attempt mutant resurrection, provided you can recover their body. You will only be able to bring back one mutant at this time. At the conclusion of the RP, you may attempt to resurrect other mutants. (I will say that not everyone will be resurrect-able, so you'll have about 2-3 resurrections allotted to you.)
Select who you would like to attempt resurrection on and let me know on the Discord - I think the easiest thing to do would be to collab the resurrection ritual and post it as the 'end' of this chapter.
Callie took a moment and looked over towards Max and shook her head slightly it was ultimately up to Ben it was his choice whether or not he wanted to come back or not. And by the sounds of it Ben really did want to come back to life, and after being dead for so long she couldn't blame him either. "It's ultimately Ben's choice whether or not he wants to be the test subject for the attempted resurrection, we can consult with Casper and let him know what we are planning." Callie told Max, there were probably a few members of the Underground who had died wanting to come back to.
Callie turned to look at the spirit box as Ben spoke through it they knew where Ben's body was before it ended up getting cut out in the end she wasnt sure what the last bit that Ben was going to say. She hovered her hand over the spirit box and could feel the heat radiating from it. Veil came up with a really good idea and nodded towards her it sounded like it was pretty doable then, they just needed the body and they could do the whole ritual thing. "Alright then, Max should talk with Pixie and get her opinions on it, Veil and I can look for Casper and let him know what we are going to do, and see where he know's where Ben's body is in New Orleans." Callie said hopefully their plan would actually work.
Location: House of M Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (passive)
There was always the issue of trying to classify things. Andy remembered a joke Ash had told her once about a chicken being plucked of its feathers and being presented as a human. She didn't remember the whole story, just the ridiculous line of "behold a human".
She blinked confused when Magneto asked to fight them. He had before. It seemed only a little bit ago, but really it had been months. She nodded and moved. They would be at a disadvantage in the house as everything would be something he could control. But it was also all metal so if she could touch him she could use that against him. But if he flew like he had before she wouldn't be able to touch him.
"If you fly I won't be able to hit you." He didn't agree to not fly though. She moved quickly trying to get in one punch before he could get away. But he just pushed her away. Her jacket pulling her. She sighed. And quickly removed the jacket, tossing it onto a chair. It would be a hinderance here.
Location: Green Lagoon Skills: Basic Spellcraft, ConjurationNew Outfit
None of this sat right with Max. But Veil's question hit him like an arrow to the heart. Can we ask anyone to test this out? The question ran through his mind over and over again, each time leading him down an empty hallway with a pitch void at the end. Max felt as if he could stand in that eerie place forever, debating the morality of it all within his mind's eye while the world passed him by. As usual though, Ben would have his piece. Ever the hero he was, volunteering to be the test subject of the ritual. A hot tear ran down Max's cheek as the Spirit Box had cut out and returned back into static. He couldn't meet either of them in the eyes, shame filling him as he listened to Veil speak. She'd stumbled upon the same idea Max already had in mind, noticing one key difference. She left someone out.
In Max's original theory he had wanted to implement four people. James as their primary healer to help restore the body, Casper as their resident soul practitioner to help transfer the soul, Max to help facilitate the ritual itself and add aid where it was needed, and finally Callie to add a spark of life to whomever they choose to bring back. As he listened to Veil's plan, and thought more on it, he figured she wasn't too far off. The number three appeared in most religious contexts as a 'holy' number. There was the trinity of Christianity, the triple goddess of magic, even in the PJO books did they harp on the number three. By removing Callie from the equation there was a chance that Veil had stumbled onto something incredibly important.
Max stood and stretched for a moment. "You two have given me a lot to think about, I'll make sure to try and get as much as I can from Pixie. If you find the location of Ben's body, I can take us there to retrieve it. Xavier can't be the only one beating fate after all." Max turned the Spirit box off before waving his hand and having a portal reappear back at the Green Lagoon. "Sorry Ben, can't have that thing running all day. But I'll be sure to keep in touch if you wanna stick around with me for a moment longer."
Echo
Location: Green Lagoon Skills:
Harry chuckled at Legion's joke. He wasn't wrong however, the five of him would be nothing compared to the literal Legion behind David's eyes. Still, Harry didn't care about all that. If he had to impress and relive each day with a new aspect of the man before him, he would. To an extent Harry could understand where Legion was coming from, sure he never lost days or missed swaths of his life, or at the very least he hadn't since he got clean, but he did talk to his reflections much the same as one would another person. Each one Harry had always viewed as a separate entity of himself. Life, much like light, was a massive spectrum. And every one of his clones was just another wavelength of Harry's self that was able to exist when they parted.
Harry had closed his eyes, blinking only for a moment before opening them up again and being surrounded by what felt like a new world. Legion looked much the same, but Harry felt different. When he looked down upon himself he appeared much like what he'd envisioned when he was younger, back at Xavier's School for Gifted Children. He'd seen a lot of Ben10 growing up, and loved the way that his sister appeared in her form of light. So much so that when his powers developed he believed he could become like her eventually. A part of that survived with Harry, helped him visualize his powers when using them. His skin glowed a deep purple, shimmering with the colors of the rainbow every fifth heartbeat. It was how he could tell each clone apart, each one was a separate color from the spectrum of light that he called upon. Harry's was always yellow, though when they all combined it made the missing sixth color, one that technically doesn't exist, purple.
Harry examined himself for only a second, cutting back towards David as he asked him a question. "This…is amazing. What is this place?" His eyes were wide like a child who'd just seen an incredible act. A moment passed before he realized he'd never answered his question. A smile formed on his lips as he nodded his head yes. "Of course you can. Though I appreciate you asking."
Oh no, this was a bad combination. James and Casper couldn't both be overwhelmed so James swallowed down the feelings and put them to the side for the time being as Casper's stumbling over swear words made him chuckle. "We've got to try not to swear at least until he can tell when he can and can't swear. Once he can tell the difference, then we can consider it." James shook his head affectionately at Casper. He looked down at the child in his arms and leaned against Casper for a moment, soaking in the reality that this was where they ended up.
“I may have forgot names existed?” James admitted sheepishly as the topic came up. He smiled at the little life in his arms as he considered it. “I think we’ll just need any medical information on him if you have any. I’m not really certain how involved the hospital was in the process of setting this place up.” He looked at Casper thoughtfully.
He hated the fact that his father was more or less guilt tripping him into doing something, and blackmailing him really when he thought about it. He had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do, not to mention, Selene could be just about anywhere on the island right now still, and he knew nothing about where she was. Not like he followed her around to try and know where everyone was at all times, honestly that struck him more as something Sinister would do as opposed to him really.
"...Alright, do you know where Selene even is for me to attempt this? Or not?" he hated that he was even deciding to do this. But honestly the sort of guilt tripping was working. However he did need to think a little bit about how best to do this, so he walked back into the Green Lagoon to maybe try and figure something out. It always seemed like he had the instances of things that were super big issues, but that he could never mention about it at all. This was definitely going to be fun.
Location: House of M Skills: Technopathy, Sword Fighting
"Yeah, that sort of thing might work out better..." Zari agreed with what Magneto was saying about giving each group a mentor sort of figure who might be able to help them out. However the part she was not prepared for was him deciding to just ask them to fight to see what they were capable of. Here's the problem for Zari, and that was that she was probably the worst person to be fighting Magneto in anything. His powers were metal based, and of course, just about everything that she used tended to be metal made and all too. This was not going to go well, all she could easily think about was sending out distractions to allow her to potentially get in some hits.
"...I am not someone who does well against someone who manipulates metal... But oh well, go with what you can and run with it..." she muttered, before she used her powers, and Mr. Jaws floated out of the bag that she carried everywhere, and with her right hand she pulled out her flashlight for the moment. Flicking her hand, she sent the robotic head flying directly at Magneto, and just as she thought, he stopped the head and seemed to be thinking about something. However that wasn't the end of her plan, as she had anticipated him stopping the robot, as she instantly whirled around and slid over, her flashlight shifting to its true sword form, and she slashed forward, managing to hit him across the stomach, before she slid back away again, making sure to try and keep a firm grip on her sword.
Location: Hellfire Manor Skills: N/A
Miranda smiled at her again. She was glad that Mongoose seemed to be super happy to at least go with her for the moment. Then again, knowing kids, that sort of thing could all change within a few seconds when it came to potentially throwing a temper tantrum or something like that. Of course, she'd have to figure out what to do about anything like that a little bit later, since right now, she had to see about getting Mongoose home or something. The thought did cross her mind of what Ellie was likely going to think hearing she adopted a kid.
That was definitely an interesting sort of thought, and she knew immediately after this she was going to see about getting a hold of Ellie to talk to her about it. Or at least tell her, but right now, she was going to just focus on Mongoose for the moment, "Well, how about we see about heading out of here alright? To your new home," she said to the little girl, holding out her hand so that she could take it if she wanted to.
"Uh, are those two just... standing there?" Marrow asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at the nearly motionless forms of Legion and Echo. Sunshine shrugged, but continued to watch out of curiosity.
Meanwhile, in the astral plane, Legion and Harry existed as beings of pure consciousness. Legion grinned, looking at the cascading colors that Harry was putting off, noting the change every few seconds or so - in time with Harry's beating heart. "It's the astral plane. I used to hide here as a kid, when things got too much... Became my special place. Far as I can tell, only telepaths can get in... So it's just the two of us," Legion explained.
"I can make it look however you want, but... I really just wanted to do this," Legion said, glad that Harry had consented to his question, before pulling Harry in for a deep and passionate kiss, Legion's hands placed right above Echo's hips, anchoring himself to the gorgeous Canadian mutant.
Hellfire Manor...
Stacy X raised an eyebrow at James. "Aren't you an omega level healer or something? Can't you just boop him and figure out his medical history? But anyways, if there's any, you'll need to go talk to Doc Nemesis - he would know if anything existed on all the babies on the island," Stacy X said. "But chill, I'll mark down that you took that baby, aaand... good luck and don't fuck it up."
"I got that reference!" Casper blurted, before his mind went back to what James had suggested - the name Daniel. He liked it. It reminded him some of Danny Phantom, a show that he had actually loved growing up despite his fear of ghosts. Danny Boy was also just a cute nickname to say. Dan the Man would be fun. And he didn't think of anything immediately easy to, like, make fun of the name or anything so... "Daniel is fucking perfect, babes - oops, my bad... But, um, if we want a middle name, what about... Elliot?" Casper suggested. His mom's name was Éliette. "Or if you don't like that, then that's totally fine, we don't have to."
Casper was a mama's boy at heart. He smiled again, looking down at the little baby. Baby Daniel was so cute and innocent, the more he looked at him the more paternal feelings arose in Casper. He made a mental note to watch some TikTok videos about parenting whenever he had a chance - he didn't have the attention span for things much longer than a 30 s clip, but he was sure that he would at least pick up some things. And maybe google strategies on how to not swear. That was going to be hard.
"Okay!!" Mongoose squealed to Miranda, before taking Miranda's hand. Miranda would then notice that the texture of Mongoose's skin was different - it was like there were a million tiny little hairs on her hand, giving a sort of weird texture to her, almost similar to the feeling of a lizard's hand. "Byeee Stacy!"
"See ya, kiddo."
Outside the Green Lagoon...
"Good boy. Your mother is going to be so proud of you, Jackie. My spies tell me that Selene is at home right now. Probably watching reality TV or deciding which black dress to wear to the Hellfire Gala. Now, off you pop! Time is ticking. Tick tick tick!"
The Rebuilt House of M...
Fortunately for Magneto, he wore an armored costume at all times - largely to keep people from being able to kill him easily, and as the metal it was threaded with helped him to fly via magnetism. As of such, Zari's blow to his stomach more stun than anything else - the slash didn't penetrate down to the skin, but the force behind the blow did translate, likely forming bruises underneath his costume. "Champion, watch Valkyrie and adapt," Magneto chided. "Your opponent will often not be fair nor kind to you."
He then wanted to test their defensive skills, so Magneto raised his hand - remember, the rebuilt House of M is made almost entirely out of metal, including the furnishings - and created a sort of tornado around himself of chairs, tables, plates, forks, etc etc flying around. This gave him a defensive layer, as to get to him to strike, the girls would have to dodge flying furniture, but also gave Magneto an excellent arsenal to attack.
And so he did, starting off easy - chairs went flying directly at both Andy and Zarina.
Max's Room...
Veil nodded. The hardest part would be getting to New Orleans safely - she didn't say it, but Max's portals tended to be hit or miss. Sometimes, he was fantastically accurate - other times, there was really no telling where they would end up. The spirit box was off and silent now - unless Casper arrived, they wouldn't be getting any further input from Ben. "You go meet with Pixie, we'll track down Casper and see if he knows where exactly Ben was buried," Veil agreed. It was too bad Max couldn't trust Selene - this entire bit of dabbling with necromancy seemed like her area of expertise to Veil.
Max opened a return portal to the Green Lagoon - glancing on through, Veil could see that the lunchtime rush was beginning to arrive. The Blob served up surprisingly good food at the bar - he had really found his calling as a bartender/chef. "Come find us when you can, we'll need a lift to New Orleans," Veil said, and was surprised to feel a bit of fear in the pit of her stomach. It had been so long since any of them had been out in the human world - she had gotten so used to living openly without fear, without having to hide that she was a mutant. It would be strange to going back to having to hide.
You can use a magic ritual of three to attempt mutant resurrection, provided you can recover their body. You will only be able to bring back one mutant at this time. At the conclusion of the RP, you may attempt to resurrect other mutants. (I will say that not everyone will be resurrect-able, so you'll have about 2-3 resurrections allotted to you.)
Select who you would like to attempt resurrection on and let me know on the Discord - I think the easiest thing to do would be to collab the resurrection ritual and post it as the 'end' of this chapter.
