[hr][hr][center][h3][b][color=cc33ff]Guin Stark[/color][/b][/h3][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/2c7919d1c6222c4f923a38e3e509c948/tumblr_inline_odikgj8J1Y1rifr4k_250.gif[/img][hr][b][color=cc33ff]Location:[/color][/b] X-Mansion 
[b][color=cc33ff]Skills:[/color][/b] N/A
[url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f1/42/7a/f1427ad677d3f5ce8f2c1f9bef0daa87.jpg]~Fit Check~[/url] [hr][hr][/center]	Guin hadn't realized she'd been quiet for a moment, until the sound of a portal opened before her - one that went to an old yet timeless home in New Orleans. Her mind had been buzzing with information, her thoughts moving so fast that even she couldn't fully understand them, more flashes than coherent ideas. Thoughts of Mary - of how she had used to be, how she now was, and how she might become. Thoughts of the Phoenix - and the destruction that it could wreak upon the universe, not just Earth. She had her father's itch in that moment, the urge to put a suit of armor around everything and everyone - anything to protect life against something unknowable, unstoppable, unreasonable.

	She rewound the conversations around her in her brain - Pietro had asked her how she was - [i][color=cc33ff]I'm fine,[/color][/i] she answered, aware that Jean Grey could hear her too. They had a destination - New Orleans - but no plan of action. The Phoenix was a force of nature, a being of fire and life - how could she fight that? She couldn't just build a gun to kill it - and anything she did to hurt the Phoenix, it would hurt Mary too. It was one thing to think about the fact that she might have to hurt her friend... another thing to actually take the steps to do it. 

	[color=cc33ff]"Jean, you're the expert with the Phoenix. Is there any other way?"[/color] Guin asked bluntly. [i][color=cc33ff]Is there any other way than killing her?[/color][/i] she finished, knowing Jean would hear her thoughts. 

[hr][hr][center][h3][b][color=f26522]Avery Spellman[/color]
[img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/86cec6d38d47218f7dafbb840a74b7f1/2089eac01cae8eb6-05/s250x400/1e755ce4912f22c6e13fb41c2a3d9d26d767286b.gif[/img][/b][/h3][hr][b][color=f26522]Location:[/color][/b] X-Mansion
[b][color=f26522]Skills:[/color][/b] N/A
[url=https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRgY7v9UXHqCy_w1YoKfbMi6qOsIUd6oH6uUEDMJqdxQQ&s]~Fit Check~[/url][hr][hr][/center]	Avery had similarly fallen silent, although their thoughts weren't organized the same way as Guin's. There was a deep elation bubbling within them, an earnest joy - Carolina and them [i]had kissed[/i]. She wanted to be with them. Fears and concerns aside, they couldn't help but be excited, couldn't help but want to hold her hand, to confess to her every time she had brightened up their world when she stepped into a room, every moment they had almost confessed their crush but had been too afraid to do so. 

	But this joy was mixed with horror - that the Phoenix was returning, the [i]Dark[/i] Phoenix was returning. That wasn't something small - wasn't some villain that they could show up as a team and pummel into submission. The Phoenix was a cosmic power, as terrifying as it was great. It was a god in ways that Asgardians could never be. And the only thing that quelled Avery's panic was the knowledge that Max was there - and that the Phoenix was in Max's home town, giving him an advantage. Surely he had to have some sort of anti-Phoenix spell in his tower?


[hr]	Runa, meanwhile, frowned as she considered all of this information. She knew of the Phoenix - not in the ways that the X-Men knew it. Her connection was more intimate. The cosmic force had inhabited her grandmother, from her mother's family, when her grandmother became pregnant. Traces of the eternal flame still flowed through her blood. She tried to recall what she knew of legend - what could be done to avert this tragedy. 

	But all that came to mind was that sometimes, fire was needed to raze a forest in order for new growth to begin.