etrayalogs | [OPEN] X-Mansion clean-up

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[OPEN] X-Mansion clean-up

WHO: Storm and you!
WHEN: Late May-Early June
WHERE: Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach
WHAT: Come bother a lonely goddess in a blast from the past mansion!
NOTES\WARNINGS: N/A for now, but this is the X-Men - discussion of death, bigotry, and discrimination likely.

A new building has popped up in Etraya - easily visible from the Hospital and Apartment Complex on the main island. Ororo spends a few days flying back and forth from the main island and to the Institute, investigating its exterior and interior, before finally just taking one of the bedrooms in the main mansion.

⏵ i. indoors;

The gate and the doors are, actually, left unlocked for now. Ororo is alone, and isn't too worried about security just yet - it was just her in this large, lonely mansion and she could take on anyone who might feel like trespassing -- not that there was anyone like that here, she'd found. She can imagine people like Scott or Logan or even Hank berating her for being careless anyway, but... she isn't worried. She's more concerned about how much of the institute is even real - and thus, how safe everything actually is.

So, she goes through the entire building one room at a time - testing light switches, checking stoves or microwaves, looking through the computers in the old staff offices (they switch on, but there's nothing saved in them), turning beds so she can offer them to people who might be sick of the apartments... It's a large place, so this takes her a couple of days. It won't be hard to run into her walking through the halls with a little clipboard and a pen -- she'd had a brief moment of missing the modern conveniences of Henry and Forge's tablets -- and a smile for anyone who'd wandered in after her.

"Hello. Come to help me investigate?"

However, if she sees anyone approaching the main elevator, she calls out instead in a sharp warning -- "The sub-levels are restricted. If you'd like to go there, you'll need me to key in some biometrics to access them."

⏵ ii. pool;

The Olympic-size pool is easily seen from surrounding islands. It's dry and empty when Ororo first discovers the Institute, and not yet very clean. She considers putting up a message on the network to ask for help, but... perhaps that'd be better suited for when the pool is actually usable, instead?

So when she's done poking through the inside of the mansion, she figures it's time for a more mundane use of her powers. She blasts the tiles with wind and water to wash away any grime or dirt left between the crevices. Filling it up with clean water later was no trouble at all either, with a convenient cloud of fresh rain.

Maybe she should work on clearing out spaces for some tables and chairs next? But that'll involve more hands than she has, so it'll have to be a project for another day, maybe.

⏵ iii. rooftop;

Between self-imposed chores to make the mansion feel a little less shadowed and a little more lived-in, Ororo takes her breaks on the east wing's roof. She's taken a pool lounger and set it up here, and lies under the sun or the moon or in the shade of one of those odd, chrome structures in nothing but her underwear and a pair of sunglasses, sipping from an insulated tumbler she'd picked up at Kwiktrip and a paperback she'd taken from Corrine's (she'll return it! eventually!)

It's the last place she expects anyone to find her, really, but... people could always surprise her.

⏵ iv. wildcard;

Feel free to mix-and-match or tag in with something else completely, or use the X-Mansion as set dressing for other threads! ♥ If we have previous CR, you can also assume Ororo has messaged your character in some way to help her check the place out. Message me on almondlychee if you want something more specific.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( she says jean's name and there's something in scott that twists up. a visible change in his expression. one that seems more... pained. )

Which Jean?

( the words come out before he even realizes he's saying them. voice teetering on desperate, almost. )

Which Jean is here?

[ Oh, hearing that note in his voice is difficult. It's familiar in ways she hates, even if she knows what she says might not be easy to hear. She reaches out for one of his hands to hold. ]

She is one I know, from my home.

And you... are not precisely the Scott we know, are you? [ There's a little frown, here, but she quickly composes herself. ] But you're still Scott Summers, premiere leader of the X-Men, and one of my dearest friends. Yes?

( there's something about the way she says that — the way she reaches for his hand as she— as the storm he knows has done before. it's similar. familiar. has him staring to her through that ruby quartz there shielding blue eyes.

he hasn't really let anyone comfort him since losing jean.

so it's why he slips his hand out of hers. )

Guess that depends on who you ask.

( because, suffice to say, he's been through the ringer the past number of months and isn't really much of a leader right now. )

I am asking you.

[ She considers him carefully, a little dismayed but not entirely surprised that he's pulled his hand away. Distance isn't new - she's often had to push and shove her way into Scott's emotional vulnerabilities, mostly because he hid from them in the exact same way she would. She knows what it's like. ]

But you do not have to answer. How about a take a look around, then? You are here, after all. You came looking for something, or someone? [ It didn't have to be her. Perhaps he wanted to see Jean? ]

( he's not about to let himself get upset again. not like how he'd ended up being when he ran into jean here. not his. ororo's, from the sounds of it. he's not about to let himself feel the things he's felt and let himself drown in for months now so openly in front of someone else, even if it is ororo—some version of her. emotions get locked down. because that's something he's good at doing when he needs to. it's how he leads. how he manages to keep himself from falling apart even when he wants to. )

I came to see if this was actually real or if I'm really just hallucinating all of this.

( so, no. not to necessarily see someone. )

Ah. I had the same initial doubt. [ That it wasn't real, and she had to come and check on everything herself. She and Scott had certain things in common - and it's something of a pleasant surprise that it's remained that way across the multiverse.

She nods towards one of the hallways that lead away to a separate wing. ]

Will you help me check on the kitchen? It might be hard to hallucinate a working stove.

Unless this Echo is a damn good telepath.

( of the likes such as the professor or even mastermind. something he's considered though. when you come from a world with some heavy hitter mutants, nothing's really off the table when it comes to possibilities and considerations.

that being said, he'll follow her. )

... Or something bigger. [ It could be one person, but it could be a greater being, too, someone with access to so many universes. Celestials, cosmic beings... There's a lot of possibilities. ]

But, we are here. So we do what we can within the limitations placed on us. Right now, I'd like to see if you can help me make something for a very late lunch. [ She... may have forgotten to grab a timely meal, but he could probably relate. Sometimes she forgets to eat until her body protests. ]

This place actually has food?

( should he be concerned that it does? granted, the food he'd had at the diner seemed to be fine. just being overly cautious. a little suspicious. gently sarcastic with the attempt at humor. )

I took some. [ from the stores at the main island. ]

I hope we get a proper grocery some time - there is a diner, and a... I believe it is a convenience store? Which has some frozen items we can cook, but I would like something that isn't instant... [ Ororo Munroe is many things, but she is not an instant ramen gal. ]

There were some frozen hamburger patties. I think we can grill those, and we might lure Laura home with them.

( by grill, does she mean have him fire up the bbq a la red hot beams to the meat? ordinarily, he might ask. but given his... everything currently, he refrains. instead, he looks to her as they go. perplexed. )

Laura? A student?

( using the word home with her. )

[ Yes. The answer to all that is yes. (No, they can also just use a pan and stove just fine.)

She takes said burgers out of the freezer and waves a hand in its direction. These things have to thaw out a little! ]

A student, and more. At home, I know her to be older. But she's very young here - perhaps eleven or so? I'd keep her in here at all times if I could, but she's as headstrong as her father is. Always moving.

( somehow he gets the feeling his little joke is right on the money here. )

Pretty sure it's nothing you're not used to.

( that neither of them aren't used to when it comes to dealing with mutant kids and teens at the school. )

In a way. I wish it weren't so, but that is part of what brings us together, for better or worse. [ A lot of them were people who weren't used to having a home, or having people who want them to stay. ]

Luckily most of this... bubble city is safe, on a purely surface level. I haven't seen anyone attempt to hunt or kill our kind here. I just... I'd like her to know she has a warm bed waiting for her here in the mansion.

For the most part, they know.

( the kids, he means. while they're by no means forced to ever stay here at the school, they make sure to make it very clear that they're safe, that they're welcome, that they don't need to hide or feel ashamed, regardless of what they may have done and that, if they choose, they're free to leave. to come and go. logan sure as hell does. )

I'm sure you're better with the pep talks about that though.

If I were so good at it, people would actually stay. [ Ororo flashes him a wry smile. ]

But... we should have our freedoms, when we are afforded them. Laura wants to know more of this world while she can - so she can do as she likes. She'll have a room here waiting for her.

[ She pauses for a moment, because she still isn't sure what sort of world this Scott had come from, before she continues - ] ... You have room here too, if you'd like a place to stay. [ Does he know? That he hasn't treated the mansion itself as a home for years. Years and years. ]

( he knows he does— well. figures that. despite the subtle differences between this mansion and the one he's known for years, he figures there's still a room here for him. just it went from being for him to them... and now back to him. for so many reasons but all of them pointing to him and his lack of being able to save her.

silence falls between them but only until he can come up with something else to discuss. which, thankfully, doesn't take him too long. )

How many others are here? That we know of.

( mutants, mostly. )

[ Now this - this is familiar. How many are here? sounds a little like How many of us are left?, even if this time, the circumstances are very very different. She manages to maintain her composure, even if the situation inspires mixed feelings. ]

I was the only one until you, Jean and Laura arrived in quick succession. The mansion seemed to have been... unveiled, right on time. As if they knew you would be coming.

Guess they went and rolled out the red carpet for us.

( in a manner of speaking. still, that makes four of them and none of them being from his team. but storm is still storm and jean is...

looking to ororo, hands end up shoved in his jacket pockets. )

What do you think of all this? The whole needing to prove your world is worth saving?

[ She shakes her head; she's given it a little thought and has the same opinion. ]

That it doesn't feel right. All this power, and they claim only a few worlds are worth saving? Why expend it on bringing a few people per realm here and having us go through trials and points systems when they could use all of that to help what worlds there are?

It says quite a lot of their character if they prioritize these challenges on us in this bare world over saving actual lives in countless other universes.

Sounds more like a game or experiment, neither of which I’m a fan of.

( game, at least, in the sense of it being something other than the sorts of play they get up to at the mansion with the kids. this definitely isn’t it. )

A game, or a show. Like Arcade, or Mojo's work - but they are a fair bit more ostentatious than all this is. [ This is all honestly very sterile, very clean. Except for the violence in the labyrinth; she heard some people struggled in there. She faired generally okay - but that's only because her perception of "okay" has skewed and twisted over the years. ]

But, well, we will make do. There is a Danger Room in this Institute; hopefully it will help keep us sharp for whatever comes our way.

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[OPEN] X-Mansion clean-up

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