[open] why don't you stay here after hours?

[agoddessonce]

WHO: Storm agoddessonce
WHEN: Stonhyrr, Bad Kids Compound, Harry's Hideaway
WHAT: Ororo is wandering the archipelago! In many cases she's literally flying or just dropping down from the sky, so feel free to be surprised by the pseudo-goddess coming down from on high.
NOTES\WARNINGS: None atm. A bit of alcohol.



There are a few new places that pique Ororo's interest when she leaves the Institute for some exploration. She'd promised to visit these but never got around to them - and she figures, it's better to be late than never to arrive at all.

STONHYRR

First on her list is the ominous looking fortress surrounded by terrible weather. While it's sorely tempting to calm the storm that clouds Stonehyrr, she only gives the thunder a gentle pull and tug to allow herself entry. She has learned to respect another's magic! So she makes her way in and lands wherever is appropriate for a guest, rather than coasting over to the closest open window to do further exploration on her own.

Still, that means waiting a little for the inhabitants to find and acknowledge her. She hopes they do - and if they do not, she's going to find a door or shut window to knock on.

"Cid?" She calls out, if all else fails. "I've brought drinks, if you would share them with me."

(It's beer. She's brought him some beer.)

BAD KIDS COMPOUND

Another place - or another person she'd wanted to come and see lived in a place surprisingly familiar to her. It wasn't familiar in the sense that she recognized it - but its opulence and grandness reminded her rather sharply of the grounds that the mansion used to be on. The Institute as it was here in Etraya was a little simpler. So she spends about half an hour simply circling around the whole compound, particularly over the ship-shaped manor before she starts to descend and finally drop onto a neat landing in front of the building closest to the gate.

She should probably knock on this door, but her eyes keep straying back to the ship because... it's very odd looking, isn't it?

HARRY'S HIDEAWAY

Her last stop on most evenings is still Harry's. An old habit, and an attempt at finding something that was familiar, but also quiet. The Institute and its residents are wonderful reminders of a time long past - but sometimes remembering that time is a little painful. Things were so different. Not simple, but... different.

She gets the same beer every night she's here at Harry's and always makes sure to turn the jukebox on for something slow and blues-y. If someone joins her, she flashes them a warm little smile and offers them her hand to take. She's not even tipsy, but having a drink always puts her in the mood for dance.

"Music like this does not call for anything complex, really. All you have to do is... sway."

WILDCARD

And anywhere else! Find her flying, or landing on a patch of open street or ground after a flight!

Comments

wildcard.

[overconfidently]

While there may not be as many minds here to distract him, there's still enough on it that he, at times, needs to be away from everyone in an attempt to try and figure things out. One of the best places to be? High above everything and everyone, way up in the sky.

He's floating around in his TK bubble — keeping to himself — eyes closed and in a sort of meditative state when he picks up the presence of another approaching. There's a few capable of flying here, he's aware of that, but. It's no one he knows... until he looks over and catches sight of her.

Oh. He... doesn't know her, no. But he knows of her... sort of. He'd seen her with the X-Men who had come to the mansion when he arrived with the Avengers to warn them of Xavier, but. They hadn't exactly talked to one another, yet he knows of her being part of the X-Men. The older generation as Julian put it.

Letting the bubble fall away, he straightens up some in the sky there and stares off to her, head coming to tilt when she's a little closer.

"I'd ask if you're lost, but I think we all are a little here." What with being on a planet that isn't theirs.

[agoddessonce]

In the same way, Ororo knows she's not alone when she flies - even the airspace is shared here, but it's notably less crowded than it is back home on Earth. Nate himself is... familiar, in a way, but not the same one she knows. Not even like the younger version of Cable that she knows.

She studies him for a moment before she nods.

"A little lost, yes. It is not my first time on Etraya, but something about this place always leaves me feeling unmoored." She makes a slow descent until they are more or less at the same height.

"While I am here, I find myself looking for something grounding. . . Metaphorically speaking, of course."

The Bad Kids Compound

[tinflower]

"What are you looking for?"

There's a young man's voice, one that might hit a note of familiarity, one of the might not, given how long it's been. But it comes from above, calling down from...somewhere? No figure can be seen, and there's a slight tinny quality to it. Maybe it's from a camera, or some kind of machine installed to the building that's well-hidden.

Regardless, it's asked her a question--confused as most, at least not hostile.

[agoddessonce]

Ororo's from a time where speakers and intercoms are typical, especially well-hidden ones, so she takes only a brief look around to try and detect it before she answers.

"Not what, but who. I was hoping to visit Riz? He said that I might come and drop by?"

[tinflower]

"Oh." Oh. He needs to do something, but that might involve doing something weird, so.

Instead, the voice asks, "Uh, are you... there's a building that's not the boat... you're looking at it?"

This hidden speaker is apparently good at knowing when someone is nearby, but not what they're presently doing. Somehow.

[agoddessonce]

... Yes, she is indeed looking at the building-that-is-not-the-boat. She tilts her head to the side, a little puzzled at the statement.

"I am here at said building, yes. The front door is shut, and it is not usually polite to go into another's home without permission... Unless this is a way to tell me to find a different way in?"

Not unheard of! Perhaps there was a secret entrance of some sort?

[tinflower]

"No," the voice says flustered, quickly. "Uh, it's, well, it's more that..."

The voice trails, just for a moment.

"Uh, I don't think Riz is in, but I, do you... do you wanna wait? That's his office, but, I don't know that he'd like someone being there without him, but, I... I would give you permission to stay at the boat house until he comes back? I'll-- I guess I'm there, too."

He guesses. Technically, he is! But he should also do more than exist, right...

[levindicated]

The thunder and lightning that loom over Stonhyrr are no one’s magicks specifically- merely a memory of the Mother Crystal that back home would have stood in her bay.

Still, it will be simple for her to find inhabitants. Cid’s workshop is the only one lit with lamps instead of candlelight. There are no windowpanes here, merely wrought iron to keep intruders from entering silently.

His focus breaks as she calls out, as if he’s waking from a dream. He catches the second part more clearly.

“Drinks? Well, come on in!” he calls, walking to the window and pushing the grate open.

“Ororo! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” he opens his arms wide for her. It’s cool enough in his workshop with all the stone and the bay to sink the heat. He wears his mechanic’s jumpsuit, tied down around his waist from Ravencroft, stained now with a year’s worth of machine grease and grit. His t-shirt is damp with work sweat.

[agoddessonce]

She sets the beer down somewhere they won't clank about and break - a waste of perfectly good drinks! - and readily comes in for a warm hug. It's always nice to see him, and she's glad to see him in his element here - even if it means he's greasy and sweaty. That's not a dealbreaker.

"I'm glad to have found you. It was not a problem for me, but I imagine getting in here might be hard, typically?" She glances outside at a shudder of thunder.

"Is it always like that here?"

[levindicated]

He gives her a tight hug, trying to not get any mess on her best he can.

“Well, it is a fortress. But no, not the simplest place to stroll into. Especially since Barnabas put the walls up. Pointless, but I suppose it makes him happy.” Or something.

“Always. Lets up a bit, but it’s never entirely gone. Welcome to Stonhyrr.” as he peeks behind her to see what she’s brought before returning his attention to her.

“So… How have you been settling in again?”

[agoddessonce]

She nearly makes a quip about the large imposing walls reflecting something about the man who put them up, but... That wasn't very charitable, was it? Barnabas was perfectly nice (to her.) Maybe they can leave him a bottle or two from the pack of six she'd brought as a gift.

"Alright enough. The last 'mission,'" she encloses the word with air quotes, "Was the camp, was it not? Nothing too demanding."

There was the little bit that involved going off-world, too, but she had not been looped into that. Perhaps she should look into it, but... She had a lot on her mind. Maybe she will try to ask around another time.

When he lets her go, she reaches for the beer to give him one. The outside flash freezes on her touch - a little moment to show off. Just a bit.

"But this is me trying to get my bearings still. This fortress is from your realm, isn't it? How does it feel to have a little bit of home?"

[levindicated]

His lips curl at her little show off move. He takes the beer and whacks the cap off on a nearby table.

“Can’t complain. It was Barnabas that brought it back, but I’ve reestablished my workshop. It’s good to have somewhere to let my mind be free.” Looks like he’d recently been taking apart different household appliances to understand them.

Little generators hum around the room with work lights plugged into them. They’re all mismatched and repaired- All of this is salvage, clearly.

There are work tables, carefully drawn drafts… there’s also a little day bed next to the fireplace for little naps.

“I keep thinking about building a garage, but that would need to be on the first floor… Not that we’re expecting any raids, mind.”

Ah yes, camp. “Did you ever see the doppelgänger out in the woods, or have I gone mad?”

[agoddessonce]

"The doppelgänger?" She looks at him curiously, pausing before she moves to look for something to open her own beer with. She's not going to whack hers off a table! What if she broke the table?

"- No, I'm afraid not. I did not notice much that week, only... bracelets, really, and a game of sport or two before I left for the Institute again." The rest of the camp felt odd to her, in a way that she felt woefully out of place.

"What was this doppelgänger like, if I may ask? Was it hurting anyone?"

[stresstokens]

Riz isn't used to having people over.

Not just here (though Ororo is the first person he's invited over since they moved into Fabian's family home) but back home too. It's not only that he didn't have many people to invite over for most of his life, but that the place he lived in was just too small to have many people over, a poky one-bedroom apartment with a second bedroom constructed out of drywall, furniture so old and worn-down he always had to hide a wince every time someone sat a little too heavily on the couch.

It's a little thrilling, having someone over knowing that there are plenty of places to sit, a larder filled with food, enough room to spread out, even if he suspects Ororo would have nothing but pleasant things to say about his home back in Strongtower. He can't really brag about it anyway; this is all Bill Secaster's doing, and all of Bill Seacaster's ill-gotten gains. Still, he rushes to greet Ororo with his customary toothy smile, all fangs and freckles, waving at her as though she could miss the green kid running towards the gate at top-speed.

"Ororo, hey! Thanks for coming!" He follows her gaze to the ship behind them, and raises a brow at her, as though understanding what's going through her mind. "Pretty cool, huh? This was Fabian's Dad's old ship. Once he decided to stick to land, he turned it into a mansion."

It's a little gaudy for Riz's liking, fine points aside, but he's too wise to point that out within Fabian's earshot.