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Andy was nervous. It had been reassuring to talk with Dorian, she at least knew he didn't hate her for not telling him the truth. Now she just had to get past the hurdle of seeing four people from her past. She didn't know Ben well. He probably wouldn't even recognize her. Well, maybe, he had been around, but as a ghost. Casper, James and Max though. They had worked together. She had abandoned them. Just left without saying anything.

She'd be holding Zari's hand if her own weren't sweating like crazy. Andy only even partially took in that something was wrong with Firestar before the portal had opened and there was Max. He looked directly at her. He knew her. His eyes stopped on Zari and Mads too. The last one she didn't know why. Her stomach twisted. How mad?

James saw them too. Recognition written all over his face. Ben and Casper didn't notice. Andy wasn't surprised by either of those. She didn't know what James or Max was thinking but damn was she scared. Why was she so scared to see them? Her heart almost seemed to rise into her throat. She had to ask them something. But they were talking to their kids and Percy. Max wanted to speak to Victoria.

She hung back, standing slightly behind Zari. A suit case of her things on one side and the cat bag with her mom on the other. She could wait her turn. Wait for things to calm down. Andy wouldn't go through the portal until she knew if she could bring Selene or not. It would be surprising if they were alright with it. So she'd have to run the bag back to her room, and hope that she'd be safe in the school for the few days she'd be gone. Andy wished she had someone she could trust to watch Selene. But if there had been she wouldn't have been the one to end up with the doll.

Loud hissing was coming from the cat bag. Andy was trying very hard to ignore it.

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What am I?

The question had been on Leah's mind ever since the night in the gym with Andy. It had been on her mind during the early dawn that next morning, when she hadn't gone back to her room to talk with Sabine. It kept her up each night after, as she spent countless minutes staring down at the rocky skin that had crept over her hands and never left. She couldn't answer it when everything looked smaller, she was afraid to answer it when she walked through the halls of Margaret Carter and got those odd looks from people who weren't even sacred of Leah, but just didn't recognize her at all.

The day had come when they all boarded a plane and flew across the country. That was awkward given her hair and the fact that she couldn't even fit in the seats. It mostly sucked, but Sabine made it bearable, bitching in her ear and yapping about the nintendo switch she "found" one summer before they started dating. It was small in her hands, but she let Sabine fool around with the one game she had: Skyrim. Leah didn't know how it worked.

New Orleans freaked her out a bit, iIt was a pretty vibrant city. It reminded her of some of the places dad had dragged her along to see once, like Manaco and Madrid. Leah actually hoped most of the people here would just turn and walk away the moment they saw her. That'd be easier than some kid half her age walking up to her and asking her if she was one of those superheroes, because obviously rock-skinned people over 6'5" were that kind of person. She hadn't had much time to think about anything but that lately, being an eyesore and not understanding why.

And knowing she'd be in a room with both Sabine and April felt... Fine, honestly. Leah didn't think any less of April. Granted, she'd spent enough time feeling guilty that she hadn't noticed April was going through rough things. But April had every right to prioritize her well-being, and Leah had every goddamn obligation to be a better friend. Still, it was better than being around strangers.

Leah figured that maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't be so bad. And then Vision dropped something on them.

Nemo's dead, kids. Surprise.

That didn't add up to Leah. Nemo was a time traveler, and they'd all been saved with time travel. Wasn't he one of the time police who got pissy if you fucked with time? There was so many reasons something as mundane as a "heart attack" absolutely would not kill a guy like that. He-

Sabine was touching her. Oh, fuck, she could barely even feel that right now. Leah didn't squeeze her hand, she'd probably break it in her current state. She just took a wide step closer to her girlfriend and looked down at her. Then she turned and watched April run off, and felt a pang of worry run through her. It'd be shitty of her to run after April, for several reasons, so Leah didn't.

"There's... That's bullshit," Leah commented. "The guy's a time traveler, he probably just faked his death and put another version of him in his place to make it seem real. And aren't all of us supposed to be dead, too? Isn't it his job to enforce time laws and shit? He probably had to fuck off to protect himself. I don't believe that for a second, Vision. And what the fuck are you doing, telling us that when you know people are already stressed out?"

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The date of the contest was approaching rapidly and everyone else seemed to be more and more consumed by it. Victoria almost hoped that the teachers would slap some extra tests and/or homework on the students not participating if only to make the population shut up about it.

Herself, she was conflicted about going. Of course, she had things she considered important to do there. She could not wait to talk with Agatha, cryptic as she might be. There was apparently an organization that lined up her life, and she wanted to know about her most recently discovered overlords, for sure!

But there was also the issue of her mother likely showing up, not to mention the, to her, out of the blue invitation to stay at Dorian's house. Sure, they were friendly, although Vicky didn't think they were on sleepover terms. Not that she minded, but it did make her consider some things.

More immediately pressing decision needed to be made though. Did she bring her armor with her? Sure, she wasn't in the contest, but what were the odds she would stay out of trouble given what she was about to delve into? For once, she listened to the Ultron inside her and opted to be prepared.

When the day arrived, she joined the others at the place of departure, her helmet hanging on the clip at the armor's waist. To her dismay, a portal then opened, and they needed to go through. She approached it carefully, as she gained a healty amount of fear respect from magic that folded space. When she didn't immediately start glitching out, she braved it and stepped through, and immediately regretted it. Ah! What the hell? How are robotic fingers getting tingly?! she cursed inwardly, shaking her hands as if that would somehow make the spellwork exit her code. Then she looked up and saw her surroundings.

This was what she imagined an acid trip to feel like. Pain. I finally discovered what pain is like, Dr. Whitehall. she thought. Restarting her optical driver didn't help whatsoever. The reality of this place was out of whack. The worst part of it was the house itself. Her eyes could see the telltale signs of heavy spatial distortion magic. It was making her head swim. This would be a... problem.

One that would have to wait for a little while as understandably, the group dissolved into mushy family reunions. The sight made her smile despite the fact that she was presently located in a psychedelic hellscape. It also stung a little. Victoria wasn't going to lie to herself, she envied them.

Her train of thoughts was derailed though as Mr. Gray called out to her. Omg. I didn't even say anything yet to put a foot in my mouth. What's going on? They're not robot-averse, are they? Dorian I swear if you didn't clear up my being here with your parents I am going to- Right, respond first. She walked closer, feeling her steps grow heavier and clumsier the closer she got to the estate. "Good afternoon mr. Gray. Thank you for having me over. What is the matter?" she asked, hoping her vocalization still worked without issues.

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Diana had decided to opt out on going to the Kingston-Gray sleepover with some of the others, mainly because she still wasn't on talking terms with Percy, or Dorian for that matter. It would have just been really awkward and she would probably end up feeling unwelcomed there in the first place anyway. Diana shifted her backpack over her shoulder slightly and took it off, letting it rest on the handles of her luggage. Diana had spent most of the flight over listening to some of her music as well as playing a few games during the cross country flight.

Diana took out the earbuds in her ears when Vision spoke, she did find it odd that Nemo and Nimue weren't here really as he went on about representing the school and whatnot. However the news that Vision had suddenly brought up was really shocking for Diana to hear, that Ser Nemo had died from a heart attack. April seemed to take the news really hard as she watched her go to the nearby bathroom, her eyes turned to Vision as Leah spoke up about it.

She seemed to be really angry about it. "Do you know what actually caused it to happen in the first place exactly?" Diana asked she didn't know Ser Nemo all that well. But he seemed to be a really nice old guy from what she knew about him with the small interactions that she had with him in the past.

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Madalyne waited outside of Stark Hall with everyone else who had chosen to stay with Dorian and Danni's parents place, she remembered meeting them once briefly when they had left for Thanksgiving Break after the whole entire thing with Arcade happened. She looked over at Percy and Dorian who were pretty cute. She had her things with her for the few days that they will be there for the Contest a change of clothes as well as a few books and the like. She was excited to go to the contest as well as seeing her mentor Agatha again, she really did miss her and wanted to meet up with her while she was in town to.

Then the portal opened Madalyne looked out to see a nice looking estate on the other side of the portal, she followed the others shortly behind them. When she got through the portal, Madalyne could see all of the magic flowing around the building, even the plant life around the estate seemed to be affected by it. Seeing all of the varying colors from all across the spectrum was pretty beautiful her attention turned to Vicky. Madalyne looked at James, Casper, Max and Ben giving them all a smile, Dorian and Danni's parents seemed to be really nice. "Thank you for having us overe." Madalyne said giving them a friendly smile.

She remembered they had talked awhile back and she helped Vicky a little bit Madalyne could see the magic flowing all around them here she wasn't sure how well Vicky would be able to handle it. "Are you okay there Vicky?" Madalyne asked Vicky, she looked over at Max who wanted to talk to Vicky when she had a moment which got her curious about.

This was the day she'd been waiting for, and it felt better, perhaps, than she thought it would upon the returning from break, but not as she'd always imagined it. Her sessions with Maeve had helped her a lot, and she wasn't constantly on the verge of a meltdown anymore. That wasn't to say she was all better, no, she was a far sight from that, but she resembled that girl that wanted to enter this contest in the first instance more than she didn't, and that was good. She was embarrassed of how she had last acted in front of the whole group, and if she could have done it all over again, she wouldn't have snapped at the headmaster.

It was that thought, in part, that left her face red and eyes misty at the news of the passing of Ser Nemo. She hadn't seem him personally since that had happened, and that left her shaking. The last thoughts he might have had of her was as an emotionally incapable child. That stung, a lot. It wasn't the first death she'd seen at this point, but it was the first one filled with that particular kind of regret. She'd failed to be her best self, and now that was what she was indelibly seen as by this man. Her complicated feelings around the TVA aside, he would be missed.

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@Forsythe: Vicky's initial reaction to the magic of the French Quarter, combined with the portal, was just the beginning. As she continued to stand on the edge of the portal, it was like the breeze carried more of the magic on through - or perhaps it simply had enough time to permeate her systems. A thousand error messages popped up at once, initially in her default system language, before glitching into an odd mixture of French and runes, her voice similarly going through a series of pitches - at one moment she would sound like herself, the next like Darth Vader, the next like a chipmunk, and so forth. Her limbs began to no longer respond, half of her body already shut down, and the other half about to go into critical failure, if she did not take action to remove herself from the environment. Agatha had been able to revive her last time without erasing who she was - could Mr. Gray do the same, if her systems went completely into failure?

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Danni answered the call, his voice coming through a bit staticky, and she couldn't quite make out what was going on in the background of the call. She was too frazzled to really tell if it was just her own inability to focus, or just more problems with the audio quality. It was an old hotel. The reception was probably bad in here for a number of reasons. But that wasn't what was going through her mind as he picked up, no - it was that he sounded so happy, so excited.

And she was about to ruin that.

She bit her lip, silence on her end of the call as she fought a quiet war in her mind - if she ought to just pretend everything was fine, and let Danni be happy and having fun with everyone else for a little while longer... What right did she have to be sad over Ser Nemo, anyways? Had she ever even had a proper conversation with him? She was being selfish, making his death all about her. And she would be fine dealing with this on her own, really. It was probably better for everyone, quarantining her mood away from them all. Even Mads hadn't bothered to go stay behind with her. And how could April blame her? How could she blame anyone for choosing to go to the Kingston-Gray house, and leaving her exiled behind at the hotel with people who pretended she didn't even exist, less than weeks after promising that they could still be friends?

Maybe she ought to just tell them she was calling to let them know she'd made it to the hotel, and that everything was fine, and that everyone was being so friendly and so chill and she wasn't miserable at all - that Nemo was completely fine, he wasn't dead, and she couldn't hear Leah screaming at Vision in the lobby.

That was how she had survived for years. She lied to others and she lied to herself.

She had made a promise, though.

April pinched her eyes closed, her breath shuddering in her throat.

"It's Nemo," she said softly. "Viz just told us, he's - he's... He's dead."

For once, the pipes in the bathroom did not burst, even as the water within them rapidly froze and thawed. "I-I'm so sorry, I know you're all - you're all having a g-great time over there but... but I thought you'd want to know. They said - they said it was a heart attack. L-Leah's yelling at Viz about it now, I don't - I don't know if they told him anything else, though. I'm so sorry, Danni."

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In the hotel lobby, Leah's shouts were beginning to draw attention, employees at the front desk unable to help but sneak quick glances over at her, and other guests going about their day being less discrete about their interest. The Young Avengers were shifting uneasily - even if they were first class superheroes by this stage, they were still children, for the most part. Billy Maximoff whispered something to Teddy Altman, and Tommy Shephard's eyes narrowed at Leah, clearly unamused with her shouting at his father.

"Ms. Jordan, I understand that you are upset," the Vision said, his tone gentle but firm. "But I will remind you once again that even though we are no longer at the Margaret Carter Institute, you are representing our school right now. The school's policy for foul language still stands. Yet given the circumstances, I will not be issuing you a detention... this time," he warned. "Nor will I be prohibiting you from participating in the Contest tomorrow."

Having taking the small bit of disciplinary action out of the way, he then continued. "I understand that you are grieving - it is only natural. I know that some of you have spoken before with a therapist the school has a relationship with, Dr. Whitehall, and I can attempt to get in touch with her should any of you wish. You may also speak to me, if you would prefer, or one of the school counselors... I unfortunately do not have many details that I may disclose to you as to what happened, merely that it is important to have informed you now, rather than hide this fact from you. As for your question, Ms. Novikova, he was rather old. At his age, the risk is high... and compounded by other factors, such as lifestyle choices."

Cassie Lang pulled out her phone, her eyes a bit misty - she didn't know Nemo, yes, but she wasn't heartless. She shot off a quick text to her sister - Nemo passed away :(

Meanwhile, Gideon glanced up from her phone, where she had been swiping away on GrindHer, confused - had Vision said something?

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The contents of Percy's stomach lurched dangerously, his head aching as Mr. Gray approached him. Even with the sunglasses on, everything around was far too bright, and he had to resist the urge to squeeze his eyes closed. It was pure nerves and adrenaline that was keeping him standing, that was preventing him from collapsing to the ground as an unconscious, hungover mess. His gaze flickered over briefly towards Dorian, and then towards the others who were still on the other side of the portal, as if waiting at the threshold for a more explicitly formal invitation. He couldn't tell if anyone had noticed his state, and he desperately didn't want to disappoint Dorian, at the very least. The others... Percy wasn't as concerned about.

But as Mr. Gray mentioned the museum, and Percy's mind immediately snapped back to the events of that day - the shopping trip, the bus ride, the bathroom, the heist, the food trucks, the dessert, meeting with Morgan... His panic skyrocketed to eleven. He didn't know how to react to this. Was Mr. Gray angry at him? Was he impressed? The more he studied Max's face, the less he was able to sus out, and the more the Louisiana heat seemed to rise all around him. What did he say to his boyfriend's father? He had already introduced himself, and Max had brought up a date - and all the research he had done indicated that he needed to be respectful and polite. How did he apply that here? What was the polite thing to do after his boyfriend's father alluded to their heist? Why hadn't he thought to be more specific around this exact scenario in his searches?

"Dorian told me a lot about you, too, Mr. Gray," Percy settled on, before his brain froze again - what had Dorian told him about his father before? What was something polite and respectful he could say that his boyfriend had mentioned before? "He said you're very good at clothes." He winced, immediately regretting it, but it was too late. He was incredibly thankful that Vicky was trying to pull Max's attention away from him.

Ben Gray hadn't noticed really yet that Zari and Andy were on the other side of the portal - he was usually observant, but having his son back home caused him to focus his attention on Dorian - and on Dorian's boyfriend. The poor kid seemed incredibly nervous. "Yeah, my husband does make nice clothes," Ben agreed, before rolling his eyes slightly at Max. "And he has an incredible taste in colors - with a matching sense of humor..."

Casper Kingston, however, tilted his head slightly as he saw his son answer a phone call from April. He'd never really met April before, but he'd seen photos of his sons with a blonde girl before. And kids changed how they looked so fast! So when he'd seen a blonde girl on the other side of the portal, he had just assumed that was their friend. But clearly that wasn't, unless she was secretly skilled a ventriloquist? He'd completely missed the part where Max had called her Ms. van Dyne, as he wasn't very good at paying attention. He'd never been. He used to have a ghost with him to help out, sort of a Seeing Eye Dog of sorts, but for paying attention to things. He probably could have found another ghost, but... He'd been too lazy to do it. And too distracted. And James usually prompted him when they needed him to do things. Like he still wasn't too sure what was happening in the family D&D campaign, but James made sure to nudge him when he needed to have his fighter (was he a fighter?) kill something.

But before Casper could ask Danni why April was calling, when she was just standing over there, his eyes finally fell on two kids he hadn't seen in ages. Andy and Zari. He gasped, his hand going up to cover his mouth. "Oh my fucking god, where have you two BEEN????" Casper practically sprinted through the portal, his head comically pivoting back and forth between Andy and Zari for a few seconds, before he pulled them both into a tight hug. "We thought you died!! Like, you ghosted us, but for real!! As actual ghosts!! Are you ghosts? Hmm, no, can't be, I'd be able to throw you around like a bouncy ball. Zombies? Nope, you don't smell anything like what Avery dragged into the house one time... Really good skin care routine?? Also, so fucking hurtful that you just bailed, after everything we'd been through together!" he squealed.

And then his eyes widened again, as the cat bag next to Andy began to scream...

"I recognize the stench of Maximilian Gray anywhere!" Selene hissed, before making her best imitation of the sound of spitting, as the doll she inhabited lacked saliva. Not that it was truly a doll, after all. It was an acheron, a mystical object used to trap beings of immense power, such as herself. It was only what little magic that remained to her that had allowed her to warp her trap into something that resembled herself, albeit in the form of a doll - and through her mutant gift to control inorganic matter, she could roughly puppeteer it, giving her limited freedom of movement.

But should the warlock who had betrayed and confined her all those years ago (well, last year really, from her perspective - to be honest, only a few months ago) wish to, he could easily lob her prison into the sun - or devise some means of actually harming her. And Selene would not allow that - not without a fight!

She focused the totality of her mutant power and her magics, lashing against her prison, the most aggressive and powerful attempt she had made to escape since her capture - to those watching, the cat carrier was thrashing violently, falling out of Andy's grip and hitting the ground, where it continued to jump, spin, fall, and jolt as if possessed by some wrathful ghost.

"DID YOU BRING FUCKING SELENE?!?!??!?!?!"

Firestar then coughed politely, trying to get the attention of Mr. Gray, so that way she could discuss something with him. He had more experience working with children than she did, and the news she had just received was heavy... And she wanted an adultier adult to be the one to figure out how to broach the subject to them all - to tell them that their coach had just passed away.

Max blinked. Trying to take in the words spoken by the young Mr. Novikov. He was very good at clothes. Right. His eyes scanned over him, noting the amount of nervousness he was exuding. It was hard enough meeting your boyfriend's father he imagined, more so when there were four of them. Max never got to have that feeling when he was younger, Ben's father wasn't one you wished to meet, and his parents had disowned him at a young age. He tried to imagine what he would want to be said to him if he were in Percy's shoes. Luckily for him, his wonderful husband had stepped in to alleviate some of the pressure of handling so many kids. Max gave Percy a gentle smile, placing a hand on his shoulders as he did so. ”There's nothing to be nervous about here kid. Please, call me Max. Mr. Gray sounds way too formal and I feel the title slew of titles I have are too much of a mouthful to repeat every time. So, Max should suffice. But if you'll excuse me I must reacquaint myself with an old…friend and speak to Ms. Van Dyne.”

Max had no idea how long Vicky would have. How sensitive she was. But Agatha had made it seem like a deal of urgency was needed. He hadn't wanted to ignore Madalyne, wracking his mind to try and recall just when she had lost Ed, would she know of him? Or was he a stranger to her? Simply a ghost tale told by her mother. He decided not to test the subject. ”Ms. Crane, pleasure to see you again. You're of course more than welcome here at the Kingston-Gray Estate, but I do apologize I have urgent matters to see to first. Then, a house tour so to speak.” He gave her a half bow, walking past her as his eyes fixated on the carrier that was now on the ground swirling in anger. ”Now I'd recognize that flat untuned voice anywhere. It's no wonder your spell had no kick back then if you couldn't even hold the note yourself Selene.”

"Yeah, I've got her still. I am afraid to just leave her here unattended. Like I don't trust anyone to watch her. I figured if you guys were super against it I'd run her back to the room and it is okay if I do that, cause she seems uh...very pissed at the moment. I'm sorry."

Max squatted down to be at eye level, or as close to it, with the carrier. He looked up at Andy before looking back down at the carrier. ”You did well for seventeen years of containment. But I can hold onto her if you'd like, enjoy yourself for now and forget she ever existed. I know I did.” He said as he held his hand palm up before the carrier and a can of fancy feast tuna appeared in his hand before he started speaking in a baby voice. ”She's not so bad is she? She just needs a little tuna huh? Don't you, you washed up drag queen. Yes you do.” He left the can there to taunt her as he stood back up, his smile fading slightly and going into a more serious look as he watched Vicky slowly falling apart.

”This, as a matter of fact, is what is the matter Ms. Van Dyne. A colleague of mine, Agatha Harkness, had informed me of your unique situation and relationship with magic. The surrounding lands are laced with magical enchantments. As you've no doubt noticed it yourself. That is why-” Max reached into his pocket, feeling the box once more…thinking how easily he could end Selene with this, the greatest threat he's ever faced, but right now this child needed him more and Selene was well enough contained. He pulled the box out and opened it, pulling out a small necklace with a metallic pendant at its center. ”I apologize in advance Ms. Van Dyne, normally we'd have a discussion about this and the choice be given, but seeing as how your speech has been rendered…difficult to understand, I shall be placing this upon you and we can discuss after.” Max placed the necklace around Vicky's head and instantly her systems would begin to go back to normal. A faint aura surrounding her only visible to those who could see the magic, as if the colors in the air warped around her being but did not touch. ”So long as you wear this pendant you won't have any adverse reactions to the ambient magic. What's more it will allow you to stay at the estate without fear of dimensional issues. If you do not wish to keep this on you however, then I can make arrangements for a hotel outside the French Quarter. Though it wouldn't be ideal as we are short some chaperones it seems.”

At the very mention of it, Firestar seemed to cough. Smooth. Max looked towards Vicky and gave her a polite smile. ”As you can see things are always moving here in the French Quarter, so please try to keep the pendant on. In the meantime I must speak to Firestar, see what's to make of our other members.” With that Max breezed past everyone to speak to Firestar and see what was amiss.

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Andy froze for a second as Casper pulled her and Zari into a hug, but then she relaxed and leaned it. His response made her feel really bad about the way they had left. She had been afraid they'd be mad, but...sad hadn't been what she was expecting. God, she didn't want to think what her conversation with Magento would eventually be. She needed to pull that bandaid off soon. She told Max why she had Selene and then took a deep breath and started talking explaining everything as fast as she could as succinctly as she could.

"I just went with Zari to her time, which if you guys had been listening was in the future. Also, a different universe, but we went to school here. Then it turned out your kids were going here too. I'm sorry I didn't say anything. She asked and I just leaped at it. I had Selene and didn't want to deal with everything right then and there. So I thought if I went forward a bunch of time it would be okay. But it's been really weird and hard and I missed you guys. I didn't know I would. But I do. I'm sorry. Maybe I should have just gone to the hotel instead of coming to your place as a surprise. But Dorian and Danni invited me over, even before they knew who I was."

The words all came tumbling out of her mouth. She took another breath. "And I don't know what to do with her. I'm so scared I'll fail at keeping her contained. So yeah, you can have her for now. If I had stayed with you guys it would have been different. I'd be grown up. But I'm not. I'm still seventeen. I'm not thirty-four. I don't know what I'm doing." Most of what she said was to Casper as Max was busy making sure Victoria wasn't melting, and whatever Firestar wanted. But she wanted to get it all out. She needed to. This had been bottled up for too long.

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Oh. Oooooh. Ooh shit.

Victoria was in full panic mode. First her limbs stopped sending diagnostics, then they seized up completely. She was glad she had the armor on, otherwise she would have probably collapsed in a heap. Her ears were catching the conversation, but only sporadic words were really registering - ...Agatha...Advance...Discuss... - Was this some scheme of the witch? Did she have to pay something up front in order to not be obliterated?!

In between that and reviewing the myriad of diagnostic logs, she made a note that the magic corruption was not a linear function of time, but seemed to get progressively worse with it. Pray she be excused for never investigating, she was content in avoiding it entirely - When she was aware it was coming!

Just as she was about to kick into emergency action (or the bucket, as it seemed), and blast herself back through the portal before the second scenario occurred, mr. Gray put a piece of jewellery around her neck and the influx of errors stopped, and whatever was happening to her seemed to be getting undone, and fast.

That calmed her enough to listen to mr. Gray explain what was what. Alright. It seemed the other witch actually seemed to care for her well-being and gave the adults here a heads-up. "Thank you. I'm all too happy to keep this on me. I'll have to thank professor Harkness as well."

She flexed her arm when the diagnostics came back online to try and check how long it would take for all of her code to return to normal, and then she gave Dorian a bit of a stink eye. "I remember telling you that I died to circumstances like these once already. I know you mentioned your home was magical, but you forgot to mention it was a bloody deathtrap. I hope that was a slip of mind or you thought I wasn't serious, and you would have the decency to tell me to my face if you wanted me dead."

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It was at least somewhat nice to be off and away from the school in her opinion. Then again she still wasn't too thrilled at being in the contest if she couldn't help it, but since she was here, she was still going to see about helping out her team however possible. Even if she wasn't necessarily the person that they would probably want on the team. Danni had more or less made it clear that she wasn't really wanted on the team, at least that was how it had appeared to her.

They then ended up at the inn, waiting to see about checking in. When Vision was explaining how things were going to go with the contest. Typical stuff when getting reminded that this was essentially a school field trip. Then came the not so nice thing, the mention about Ser Nemo being dead. Which that was not something that she expected to hear at all. It was more of a shock than anything else. Her sister took off for another room, and Zelda herself was just still trying to mentally process what it was that happened. Sure, he had been on the older side, but still. A heart attack? That was just not something she thought of happening to anyone really.

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Zari was kind of excited to go through the portal to see people and all. Of course the instant the portal opened up, she found herself in a bit of a hug caused by none other than Casper. "Nice to see you again too," she said with a bit of a smile. Though also not entirely surprised by how quickly Casper had completely shifted subjects to the elephant in the room. That being Selene the doll, and Max made the comment about 17 years of being trapped when it came to Selene. Had it really been that long? Zari couldn't help but giggle a bit at that comment.

"No silly. It hasn't been 17 years. At least not for us. Only been a few months! I toooooooooold you so. And no one believed me when I said I was a time traveling, reality hopping half-Asgardian sort of thing. But nooooooooooooooooo. You all wouldn't believe me and all thought I was crazy! Nope, nuh uh. I was telling the truth. Then again, my dad is the God of Lies in my reality, so I don't even try to lie. I had gone back because of a prophecy the Norns had told me that meant I needed to help save your reality in order for me to even exist in my own. So yup, lots of fun." Of course, they'd see the familiar floating robotic eye flying around behind her as she spoke to them, and it seemed to be beeping at her. "Not sure you can tag along Mr. Eyeball, you and magic don't exactly mix too well. And we haven't fully figured out a way to get around that permanently..."

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Under no circumstances did Leah feel particularly obligated to represent a school. She had always been of the “Nothing to prove” mentality. And even then, it was rich coming from Vision, who was announcing some guy’s death to a bunch of kids in a hotel lobby. He didn’t even have the excuse that he was a machine. Vicky wouldn’t have done this… Well, probably not. Honestly, she’d probably call bullshit on it too, if Leah had to guess. Or she’d look into it and drag Leah along.

”Fine.” She wasn’t in the mood to sit here and bitch about it. It just seemed very unlikely that a literal time traveler conveniently died after doing nothing when they were all saved with time travel. Apparently there were inter-dimensional laws about that, which he enforced. But sure, he just had a heart attack. Sure.

April wasn’t doing so okay about it, though.

”…I’ll be back,” She told Sabine. ”I don’t like her being alone when she’s like that.” Leah brushed her hand against Sabine’s, afraid to do something like squeeze it the way she was, lest she hurt Sabine. And then she turned and walked off to follow after April.

There was a knock on the bathroom door, as Leah tapped it with her hand.

”Hey. April. It’s me.”

It was at that moment that Leah realized she wasn’t sure exactly what she could say to April through the door, to make this better. Obviously, she wanted to say something, but she never felt able to relate to the feeling of grief. Even when her mother had been shot, Leah didn’t get the time to really feel anything about that. She didn’t know how to picture what April was feeling in an empathetic way.

”It’s not great. People die all the time, that’s what everyone tells you when you’re dealing with it. But it doesn’t make it easier… It’s not supposed to be easy.” Death sucked. It sucked watching good people die, it sucked when good people risked their lives to ensure bad people died. Leah wasn’t very familiar with Nemo, but at least he wasn’t a shitty person.

She fumbled for a second.

”And- And it’s harder when it’s someone like us. Superheroes. People think we’re invincible, we treat each other like it, and then… They die,” She continued. ”But it’ll be okay. Eventually. It’s going to be different without him, but it’s going be okay. And while it’s not okay, I’ll be here, alright? You can scream if it makes you feel better, and I’ll sit right here. And you can talk to me about it, and I won’t walk away.”

It made Leah feel like a real hypocrite saying that. ”I’m still here, nothing’s changed.”

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James chuckled as Casper promptly ignored everything and tackled the shocking part of everything: Andy and Zari. They hadn't been with them long truly, but the Mutant Underground was family. At least, he'd considered them family so their abrupt disappearance after everything they'd been through together was frustrating. And now? He was just happy they were back where they were supposed to be.

”V why would I want you dead? I t'ought you said it was an enormous amount of magic t'at does you in. T'is? T'is is like t'e baseline average amount of magic. T'en again I can't see magic so… maybe I can't gauge it as well? But Aggie and Pa ‘ave it all covered!” Dorian remarked back, a bit shocked that Vicky would even imply and malicious tendencies to come from a superhero.

James had been ready to step in when Danni invited everyone just to start heading to the house, but a phone call distracted him thankfully. Danni leading a charge on the house was likely to devolve into absolute chaos. “Don't take too long on your call, kiddo. You got guests over.” James said quietly to his son, ruffling his hair, and clapped Dorian on the shoulder. “Not even introducing your own family? Making us do it ourselves? I'm wounded.” James teased before holding his hand out to shake Percy's.

“Welcome to the…” James paused as Percy shook his hand, a bit robotically, but he could feel the pounding in Percy's head, the nausea, the light sensitivity. It was familiar, almost an afterthought to take the pain away, but it felt just like Casper trying to hide a hangover. “Family. I'm James. If you're ever hurting, don't hesitate to let me know. Even if you can't figure it out, I can.” James offered, before patting Dorian one more time and heading to round up his errant husband so they could get everyone settled in.

”But you guys do such a good job of doin’ it yourselves! Besides I've told t'em loads of stories about all of you so it's like ‘e already knows you!” Dorian replied back to James before hearing Danni mention April's name. He bolted over towards the call, pressing his ear against the other side of the phone as well so he was cheek to cheek with Danni. ”April!!!!! Did you guys arrive ok?! ‘ow is t'e ‘otel? Which one are you at so we can visit maybe? Oh you ‘ave to come over for dinner at least!” He chimed in, unsure if she could hear him or not.

“Waaaa, Dee! ‘old on, Princess we gotta… Wait, where's Amélie? Amélie! What are you-? No, stop chasin’ t’e bugs! Come on, you gotta meet t’e ‘rents in person!” He yelled back through the portal. Amélie grumbled and snorted a puff of smoke, still too little for real fire, and bounded through the portal with Amour close behind, pushing through Andy and Casper’s legs and hooking her claws into Danni's clothes to climb him and take her rightful place on his shoulder. “Okay, what’s up, Princess?”

There was a brief moment of silence as they listened to April and then…

"WHAT?! POISSON-PAS IS DEAD?!”

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Sabine listened as Leah went off about how it was possible Nemo wasn't, in fact, dead. How it made no sense. Sabine could believe that, maybe. This was not the time nor the place to make those accusations. Because there was also the real possibility that Nemo was dead and this would be making light of a person's death. And if he wasn't dead....

Sabine would kill him herself.

Sabine felt Leah move and lose her grip. Leah had wanted to go check on April and Sabien fought the urge to make a snide comment (you're welcome!). Sabine nodded softly as Leah left her to handle it on her own. She wanted to be there for April too. Sabine couldn't imagine the emotions April was going through, but a small voice, that little voice that haunted her ever since her mother died, showed up as it so often did when she was in a vulnerable state.

she has her real friends to whine to. the ones she went to when she needed help. she doesn't need you. never has, never will

Sabine closed her eyes and took some deep breaths. She needed to be somewhere else. She made her way closer in the hotel. She could feel herself getting hot. She needed to be alone for a second.

Once she found a spot with no people, a nearby hallway. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She opened them and looked around. Okay, five things she could see. The carpet. The painting on the wall. The couch in the lobby. The lights above. And her own feel in her comfy shoes. She then went through feeling, hearing, smell, and taste and felt calmer.

Once she was settled she left and made her way to her room. She wanted to relax more before the contest. She needed to be at her best.