A Sense of Hope

May 12, 2015:

Hope drops by X-Red. As do a bunch of other X-Men.

X-Red HQ

The X-Red HQ is open to all X-Men and others, since it is a publicly listed location.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

A few hours ago Cerebro saw unauthorized use for the first time in… well, it hadn't happened this year yet! A bit of investigation revealed it has been Nate, which was strange because he never showed the least interest in Cerebro.

Also, Nate broke it.

Further investigation and a few burned chips replaced later revealed Nate had not broken it. It was Cerebro that had overloaded at detecting an unusually powerful mutant somewhere south of New York. Nate had labeled that mutant as 'Hope'.

Nate contacted Calvin and Jean later in the day. He explained that another member of the Summer-Grey extended family, one 'Hope Summers', had apparently been brought to their reality by the Phoenix Force. Nate had some choice words to add about the 'the fucking space firebird'. Apparently Hope was partially amnesiac too, and definitely too trigger-happy to be left unsupervised. She was raised in lawless futures and has 'shooting people' as hobby.

(He forgot to add Hope had been taken by the JLA already. Mostly to avoid problems about maybe secret JLA safehouses being revealed to illegal superteams. Eh… will clear out that problem later.)

So, not much after the telepathic talk, Nate brings Hope into the X-Men Red headquarters. Still tell the girl about the situation of the world. "Until about a year ago the X-Men were completely clandestine, now there is Team Red. Kinda lightning rod, but so far it is working pretty well. No one has nuked the place yet. Do you remember Mimic and Iceman from your world?"

+MEET: Lunair has arrived via +meet.

Speak of the cold devil and he shall be eating lunch while watching monitors. The X-Men as a whole have been monitoring a couple situations. Purifier acivity has been on the rise in some alarming ways, the Metro PD and SRD have formed a joint-task force that looks to be expanding to include other agencies (and more tech) and most pressingly at the moment Smooth. So he's been a little light on lab work the past couple of weeks and a little heavy on keeping an eye on the news feeds and the various databases the X-Men maintain. Basically watching for trouble while the team leads organize their efforts.

The sandy haired ice nerd has a BLT today. Because bacon is the solution to all things.

Except differnetial calculus. There's no curing that.

Calculus isn't that bad. But Lunair did kinda feel bad for accidentally getting Lois Lane tazed by a cop and it's been a weird few days. She also really did need to visit Jean at one point and and - well, her brain is here and there. She'll likely do her best to help with lab work and looking into things as far as Smooth goes. She's been worried about her friend, Shift. She doesn't know much about Ghana, but dammit. A friend's a friend, wherever they may come from. So she's polite enough to turn up here, to check in on people.

Even the cool dudes. Perhaps because of the cool dudes and a love of godawful puns.

Hope Summers. Nope, rings no bells for Cal. All the Summers/Grey kids seem to be weird as far as realities go. There's a Scott and a Jean in almost every one but their offspring seem to be almost unique. Maybe the odds against Scott and Jean actually having the kind of relationship that produces kids is so low that they almost never happen. "Hey Nate." he says once he blinks in. "Found another stray? What is it about you all that you can't stay in just one reality?" Or maybe the question is, what is it about them that the realities kick them out? Inquiring minds want to know.

"Red is the color of blood, and that's the public team? What the fudge?" Hope's response. "No," she states bluntly, appearing annoyed and moody as most teenagers are when they get flung where they did -NOT- want to go. The only bonus is she is flying herself, actually mimicking Nate's power as she keeps close to him. She got more sleep last night and isn't talking to Nate about Cable, whom she has a meeting with later that evening. Actually, she's making a major point to NOT think about her dad, the nervous wreaking terror will make her punch someone…which seems to be a good Summer pass-time to be honest!

Hope's one eye stops glowing when she stops mimicking Nate's powers, and she frowns at the sight of the others, not saying anything and not appearing overly friendly or like wow, family! Let's hug! Nope, not at all…

If Hope was truly 'borrowing' Nathan's powers, she could possibly feel that someone else was there with them. Walking, listening the entire time. But not actually seen nor visible, quiet as kept as she takes 'The Walk'. The walk that shows her world as inverse, each footstep that Nathan took was taken with her own, every stop, every pause, every twist and turn with her/his head.

She bound herself to him after the message, chaos surrounding her, allowing her to slip into the plane so that she could mentally recover. She was protected on her end of the world no less, which allowed her the freedom to communicate..

And in this world, everything seemed almost upside down and empty. Often times, there was a wisp or a glimpse of a life that passes by, or a life that passes through and onto the next..

Her image.. the image as she sees herself, a fire elemental, cloaked in flame with a trail of red hair that licks fire from her tendrils. The emblem of the Phoenix upon her chest, even embedded upon her fiery forehead that stands out and burns brighter than the rest of her.

And still, Jean says nothing.

Nate actually yelled at Hope for copying his unstable and potentially self-destructive powers. But finally settled when she showed him that she had just picked the telekinetics and her head was not about to explode. He is still very much in the 'do not do it again' camp, though.

He is aware Jean is watching over his shoulder. Which is fine for him. From eastern Africa, not less. Pretty impressive projection he could sustain only for a few minutes. As usual there is much to learn from Jean's techniques.

"Lets see," starts Nate. "Hope summers, these are Bobby, Iceman. Cal, Mimic and Lunair, Armory. Cal is actually Gold Team's boss, which is my own team. Luna… did you pick a team already? Anyway. Hope is a mutant, I asked Cal to come because he has very similar powers. Also… Hope is a heavily armed bag of surprises and secrets, so I'll let her add whatever she wants to say about herself. Which better be a lot, hmm?" He leaves out Jean is around until the woman decides reveal herself.

Bobby looks up at the sudden influx of new arrivals. This place had been empty a moment ago. Now there's… well, four, that he can see. Hope and Nate he'd been expecting ever since building security buzzed them up. Lunair snuck up on him though and Cal… goes where he pleases.

"Hey there Nate. And… Hope. Nice to meet you." Bobby comes around the table full of monitors he'd been sitting at and offers out a hand before glancing to Cal and Lunair. "I'm gonna need to make more bacon aren't I." He grins. "What brings you all by?" He hadn't heard Hope's question about the color. Red. Well, Berto had liked it anyway. And it looks good on the logos, to be sure.

When Hope senses Jean however, she is glad to drop the copying. The sensation, the presence of her, un-nerved Hope for some reason. She felt…familiar, not realizing it was the bonding with the Phoenix Force that left her with the feeling.

Hope's green eyes flicker about to those gathered, and she nods in acknowledgement, arms crossing over her chest in a typical Cable 'I'm a big shot' pose.

"I don't need help with my powers," Hope states dryly. Just in case, she's nipping that one in the bud! Come mentor me impressive X-Men is not on her to-do list today. Rather, she seems to withdraw during introduction, no real recongition other than the vague sensation of Jean's presence felt. "And I think I'll opt to keep my own privacy and secrets." No urge to trust. She knows of the X-Men, they were her allies, but she looks at these faces and….draws a blank. "I already had breakfast," Hope states. "Though chances are, Nate eats like a horse."

Similar powers? Cal studies Hope a moment before giving her a smile. "Pleased to meet you, Hope. Welcome to the family." The X-Men family, that is. Scott and Jean can give her the other if Nate hasn't already. "Nate asked me to come over and say hello." he explains to Bobby. And speaking of Nate, "Is there another future we need to actively avoid?" There's so many, what's one more added to the list.

GAME: Bobby Drake has set the pose order to Nate Bobby Lunair Cal Hope Jean

Lunair is currently undecided. But she's unaware of the headflaming stuff going on with Jean. Maybe it's better she doesn't get brain poked just yet lest her hair catch fire or something. Lunairs are highly flammable. And she apparently was out taking a pee when the healing factors got doled out (and the super soldier bodies and the huge chests and - dammit, Luna, you just pick the worst possible times to go wee). She's okay with fire elementals and nudists who spontaneously burst into flames. It's their thing, you know?

Lunair thinks of Cable as a mysterious friend with a shiny arm and also TIME COP powers.

She's not sure what's up with that, really. And Lunair is surprisingly sneaky. Just she doesn't make it a point to emphasize it because that makes her DOUBLE SNEAKY. Pause. There's a Hope. A confused look. Then a polite smile. "I should've brought tea. Or cake. My bad. Wait, Hope?" Lookaround. Did she forget more stuff? "I - forgot, actually." Lunair rubs the back of her head. "But nice to meet you," She smiles politely to Hope. A weird thing about Lunair: She has to work at showing proper emotion, else she has sort of a blank, distant stare.

At the team question, Luna shakes her head. "Umm… I dunno." Team Pinchbro maybe? "I'm honestly not good at much."

« I've often wondered why you weren't created with red hair as well, Nathaniel. » Jean emits to Nate. There was a lift from the ground upon her end, the natural swaying movement drawing her arms outright into a twirl that leaves a trail of a flame in her wake.

« It seems to like the ones with red hair the most. »

« Lucky me, I guess » replies Nate to Jean, telepathically. Then to Hope, he frowns. "Damnit, Hope. You are as bad as your dad, only he actually looks old enough to pull this bullshit." He sighs. "I will never say not to bacon," that is much true.

He paces around the room. "Hope came here through a manifestation of the Phoenix. Feels familiar, uh? Memories scrambled, too. I am not sure about that one, I got the faint impression Rachel had things too clear here, but also an agenda that might not have been fully hers. Dunno, I am not usually this paranoid."

"Umm….why do I have an urge to cry out bad touch?" Absolutely no recognition for Jean at all! Is she really a Summer-Grey? She then smirks at Nate, "I'm my dad's little girl. If you forget, I'll kick your ass to remind you Nate." Ballllllsy! But she actually seems to have a sense of humor after all.

"Rachel? Plan? Whoa, whoa! I got -fulfilled- my prophespy! I did my messiah thing, I'm free! Don't go including me into any plans here!" Hope looks like she's about to run right out of here!

Scott Summers comes into Headquarters: X-Men Red Team from Da Costa Building.

Cal had a couple chats with Rachel so has an idea of what was going on there. But it has no bearing on this. Except that she too was a Phoenix host. Or victim, depending on how you look at it. Yeah, victim. "It's all right, Hope. You're not obligated to do anything and you can take as much time as you need to get your bearings. We know how confusing this all can be." Some better than others.

Lunair doesn't seem bothered she's not gotten a response yet. This is confusing as all hell. Actually, she pulls a flow chart out of freaking nowhere, and seems to be adjusting a few stickers. There's Metal Arm Time Cop Pal, there's… yes, Lunair is trying to keep up and by god, she's using a flow chart. Her eyes go cross. Then she just dismisses the flow chart. It's just best to roll with it.

"Welcome to -" Pause. Welcome… to… hmm. "Here!" Yes, let's go with that. A blink at all of this. "Um. Want some help with the bacon?" She asks Bobby.

For Hope, she adds helpfully, "Miss Rachel does brain stuff and also sometimes I think fire or explosions. I forget what. But she was pretty nice and I hope she's okay," A beat. "Um, are you a Jesus or something?" Enter: Captain alarmingly literal. "Man, this is so confusing." Is she made of fish? No wait, gives fish? Is buff and into carpentry? Shit. How did this go again? Oh well.

Lunair offers, "It is nice to meet you. Would you want anything to drink?"

Bobby looks at Lunair as Hope seems to panic a little and then glances around at everyone else with a 'what the hell' look. "Don't ask me. I'm just here to do physics and chill drinks." Bobby says shaking his head. "And cook bacon."

He makes his way back to the kitchen - right next to where everyone else is standing - and soon the sound of sizzling food accompanies the construction of more BLTs. "Easy there… Hope, right? Why don't you have a sandwich and a seat. No one's gonna make you do anything. Or, they'd better not at any rate." Bobby's had a few discussions about such things with folks in the past. None recent though.

"Messiah isn't just Jesus you know, it's a prophet or a savior to a particular cause, race, or religion. In this cause, Mutant messiah, which I'm thankfully retired now. I think my retirement plan shall be destorying mafias and gangs and spending stolen money just to annoy people while working for the greater good. And maybe I'll hunt down some evil organizations bent of world domination or crazy powerful mutants that want to do bad things, and blow them up. I'm still thinking this over. Right now, I'm working on learning how to play the harmonica so I can join a band with Karolina and Kara." Wait, what?! Was this supposed to be a sane conversation?!

"Do you have a soda?" And Hope is wandering closer to the very strange Lunair, seeming to deal with her fine emotionally anyway! "Do you like oldies music? Your powers feel neat." Girl talk!!!!

Hope eyes Bobby dryly, "Not hungry, I am getting regular meals now, no need to stuff myself." She then looks back at Lunair, "What's your name again? Sorry, everything flew by so fast earlier." Awwww, cute bonding moment!

« Not so much. You still share our DNA. »

Jean could visibly see the tension beneath her, the floating within the astral plane ceasing as she tries to reach out to touch parts of Nathaniel's nervous system. If she could, she'd use that connection to draw an invisible hand to place upon Hope's shoulder, to still her. To calm her. Even as she paces away from Nate, the reach Jean has could possibly be that far. But that damn girl seemed as if she was hopped up upon Redbull, so she reluctantly withdraws.

« She's going to give me a headache in the future. »

Thankfully, this was a one sided conversation between Nate and Jean.

Cal just watches and listens to Hope. Not his problem, thanks the gods. Not in this reality. "Did you get in touch with Scott?" he asks Nate. "He'll want to be here for this." Yet another child of his alternate reality loins. Poor guy has barely gotten a kiss while his other selves can't be bothered to use condoms.

It is not easy to follow the conversation, but Nate listens. Particularly the parts about Hope's messianic stuff. He is trying to fit the pieces of the story, as some other elusive Hope (or maybe she was the same young woman) just had hinted and hidden.

Family is a wonderful thing. Sometimes. Real source of frustration other times. "Fine, don't tell. I think you are making a mistake not trusting the X-Men for this, Hope. I will still help you find your dad." Maybe he will be able to get some sense into her thick skull. Probably not. He looks at Cal. "No… and maybe. But you got it wrong, Cal. She is not Scott's. She is… well, I guess she is mine."

« Hope used to give /me/ headaches. I suspect it is not going to be different this time around »

"No, but it narrows it down." No fish involved here. Then she tilts her head. She rubs the back of her head. Lunair looks confused. "That is a lot of things to do. And be careful about the mafia thing. There's some demons and stuff," She offers. "The harmonica sounds cool." Wait, how the hell does Lunair know THAT? Lunair is lost, so she finds her own stability in her shell. "There are sodas," She nods. She doesn't move away from Hope. She's trying, even if the emotionally stunted mutant is - probably like, the worst socially off here.

"What kind of soda would you like? I don't hear them much, are they fun songs? And um, what do you mean? You can borrow powers?" Lunair is totally new to Hope, and also totally unaware she's super intelligent.

"I go by Lunair or Luna these days," A slight smile back. Sadly, Lunair does not get b-mail, so she is unaware of brain chat. "Wait, what?" Blink at Nate. Out comes the chart again. And then Lunair steps all over the flow chart. Then it disappears. She gives up. Really. "I think we have pepsi, some sprite, a few fruit sodas… and I can step out to fetch some, too."

Lunair looks to Bobby, uncertain. She quite likes Botany and she has no idea why she's here but she is totally here. It's just how she do.

Speak of the Devil, and he shall enter.

Scott comes trodding into X-Men Red HQ, a cellular phone pressed to his ear. "That's right. We can coordinate the movements from there? Alright. No. Not in that regard. I'll need to check. Okay, clear on that. See you at the rendezvous point."

Scott disconnects his call only to look up and find the room relatively well occupied. He looks around at faces both familiar and unfamiliar, giving Calvin an upnod and smiling to Jean, before cutting right to the chase. "That's it," he tells those gathered. "Final piece is in place. We move against HYDRA's network tomorrow. 21-hundred hours."

"Look Nate, I don't know -nothing-! I mastered the Phoenix, wished it away with magic, brought mutants back in the world, then landed here with holes in my memory. I did the what no one else could do, what the Phoenix killed others for failing at. It was terrifying, elixarating, tempting, and I'll likely have nightmares about it for the rest of my life. It isn't something I particularly want to go into details with, especially when this place feels so…strange, and I…don't know anyone."

Hope then turns away from Nate, having her little outburst, arms crossing over her chest again. She is actually wearing one of Scott Summer's old yellow uniform belts amazingly enough, not that she realizes it. So obviously she had some tie to the X-Men.

"Actually, ya," and Hope tries to concentrate on Lunair's words. "I am a huge David Bowie fan, but The Byrds, and Yardbirds are cool too, so are The Beatles. I'll have to get access to some music and play it for you Luna." She then smiles a bit, "You can call me Hope, obviously. And pepsi be fine."

Hope is actually starting to do something with her fingers and starts forming a large energy sniper rifle with a snicker. "Luna….I think we are going to get along great." Yesssss, that isn't a sadistic grin at alllll! "Oooh, jet pack! But…pity it won't last, I miss my jet pack." Hope is pouting now as she tosses the rifle aside as it fades into nothingness and trials after Luna and soda.

"HYDRA is fun to blow up, enjoy yourself," Hope says passingly. She doesn't seem to recognize Scott right this second either.

LOG NOTE: Jean isn't here. Oops! Scott smiled to Lunair instead.

Bobby passes the plate of hot sandwiches over toward Cal and points Lunair back toward the refrigerator. "It's in there Lun." He smiles to the walking armory and then turns to glance Soctt-ward as he enters X-Red HQ. Again. Second time in recent days.

"Hey Scott. Got a guest." The ice nerd jerks his head toward Hope. "Also the latest reports from the non-secured databases are on the table there if you wanna look 'em over."

Open mouth. Close mouth. Look at Nate. "Yours. I see." No he doesn't. "Didn't you just say you were going to help her find her father?" And here's Scott himself. "Good. And what are we going to do about all the addicts who are cut off? It's already starting to get bad." He's not going to make the introduction. Nope. That's Nate's job. Taking a sandwich, he floats the plate over to Nate.

There was a moment of hesitation that Jean felt, her nose scrunching briefly as she considers Nathaniel's words..

« She's your daughter? Granddaughter? »

For fucks sake. Whatever line of questioning Jean had for Nathaniel is tossed aside at the appearance of Scott, hearing his words upon the echoes of the ether, her hand lifting to rub at the emblem embedded within her forehead as she draws herself away from Nathaniel and towards Scott.

It was the same like before; the melding of two minds, starting at the base of his feet which could resemble a feeling of walking very, very briefly upon coals. In her inverse world, upside down, there was a smile given.. possibly felt..

« Scott. Have Calvin retrieve me from Africa in five hours. »

Someones bossy.

« Hello. By the way. »

That's better.

Ah, Nate has such a big mouth. Now he is stomping over the secrets of others. "It is complicated, okay?" Understatement of the year. "I wanted Hope to explain, but she doesn't want it explained. Besides, where is my bacon?"

Scott wanders in. Nate's mind was so far away he didn't even feel him coming. "Hey, Scott. This is Hope Summers. Not your child from other reality. But family nevertheless. Also, trouble. Although if she got over her big destiny part, I think we can relax a little, hmm?" Look at the redhead for confirmation.

Then to Jean: « Cable's. And Cable is genetically my twin. Fact is we are actually the same person from different timelines. Now the fun part: Hope is adopted. And she still looks so much like you/Rachel that it hurts. Go to the space firebird to have -that- one explained »

"Thanks, Bobby." Scott makes his way promptly toward the table, reaching for a tablet so that he might review the reports. "I've delivered a sample of the narcotic to Harrison Wells at STAR Labs," he answers Calvin. "Dr. McCoy is working with him to develop some kind of withdrawal treatment. I know it's risky, but after HYDRA bombed their supply networks on the East Coast, we run the risk of wasting our Intel if we don't move on it." He looks up from the reports long enough to look around the room at those gathered, his mouth worked into a concerned frown. "It'll make matters worse. We're going to need to step up for the mutant community. But, the alternative is more troubling."

Only then do his ruby glasses fall upon Hope. His attention is immediately drawn to her belt, and eyebrows rise upward with surprise. "Just who the hell are you, and where did you get that?" He sets the tablet down and points toward Hope's belt - his belt - accusingly.

He's very good at hiding the fact that Jean is invading upon him. For the moment, that stolen belt is forefront on his mind. Nate answers the question, of course, and he turns toward the man with a partly open-mouthed stare. "… what?"

Lunair smiles back at Scott, offering a wave. "Okay, I'll grab you a pepsi. Ice, yes or no?" That is to Hope, but if anyone else wanted a drink, Lunair seems pretty open. she smiles back at Bobby. She seems friendly, even if Lunair has some difficulty emoting properly. She has all but given up on keeping track of Summerses and Greys and accepts them as 'people who could probably melt or eyebeam the shit out of me'. Or launch her to the moon. She has no idea what's going on in Brain Chat(TM). It's probably for the better. Lunair's mind is an odd place.

Also, for an entity from space and made of fire, the Phoenix sure gets it on. Maybe it likes R&B and sexy parties on the beach? Lunair really doesn't know, but she'll bring Hope a drink, with or without ice depending on the response.

Pause. Huh, belts. At Hope's reaction and using Lunair's powers, Lunair seems a little startled. Her eyebrows lift. "Umm. I see. I - that would be neat," Sure, she's down for music. But she's a bit alarmed at all of this. "I usually use power armor," She admits. Then a quiet moment. "… yeah." HYDRA is - a sensitive subject.

Yep, grand-daughter thank you very much! Hope then says, "Just Pepsi," and will take it when Lunair offers it. Hope doesn't seem as awkward around Lunair as with the otehrs…weird, right?! In either case…

"Huh? What?" She looks over at Scott, not recognition. "I…are we related?" Her brow wrinkles at that. "I remember something about dad, he…had family in the X-Men, but I can't remember who they were." She raises her free hand to rub the back of her neck and grunts very Cable-like. "Power armor? That would be neat to see. I usually fight light, though the jet pack is just fun, or if I got a flying mutant nearby." She then grins at that, "The more stuff you can break, the better. Though super strength is also fun to copy, cause they never see that coming, they always think they are so tough and bad ass, then you floor them and their friends with their own powers! Priceless. But, I'm a mimic. I can copy…lots and lots of powers at once, but only if I decide to be out for the count for a while, so I try not to overdo it. I can even touch….someone without getting hurt," the name and face flying from her memory banks!

Hope's green eyed gaze darkens. "I…don't like this." Her hand tightens on the pepsi as she tries to keep herself centered. Her eyes glance up at Scott once more.

« The space firebird was already here. »

She felt it's reach all the way in Africa, and at an impossibly horrid time as well. But, that was a story for another day. Something for another time.

Scott's agitation was felt, and in fairness? She already had a little bit of it herself, for the nightmares that came with the emergence of the bird.. it shook her too the core. Even astral projecting as she was, felt like a huge risk. A beacon that said..

Come home.

But that invisible arm through the link they share wraps around Scott to calm him, it was the least she could do, so far away. But there was something hidden, the information that was shared between her and Nate was soon locked tight, the key tossed aside. It was not her burden to share.

« It's alright.. she's not from our time.. »

Cal listens to Hope's explanation of her powers with interest as it's close to his own. "I think you mean, Rogue. Anna-Marie." he tells her.

Bobby cants his head slightly as he watches. He's not sure he has much to add to this other than. 'Cal has the sandwiches, Nate.' Okay… Scott's got… some dimensional problems, clearly. Maybe he needs to talk to Cal or Illyana about going to some 'other places' and punching his other selves. Or eye beaming them. Or something.

Either way the ice nerd leans forward on the counter and watches the whole group of them. "So, family barbecue next week?" He says dryly, glancing between Lunair and Cal and then back to the Summers-Greys. Or Greys-Summers. One of those.

"Hope comes from another parallel Earth," explains Nate to Scott. "She was brought here by the Phoenix. We don't know why. Her memory is scrambled, but maybe Jean can help there. When she gets back from Africa." And since there is no sandwich for him yet, he is going to make his own. He leaves, to raid the kitchen. He will get back, eventually. He promised Hope he would bring her back to the Lakehouse, after all.

« … Another one? »

Scott visibly relaxes, though the jawline works itself back and forth a bit before fully relaxing. "Cal…" The way he speaks seems distracted. "Jean would like you to retrieve her from Africa in five hours." His glasses, however, remain upon Hope. You know what they say about unspoken dialogue? It doesn't take a telepath to feel those daggers.

Bobby gets a look. One of those looks. Family barbecue in this instance could mean quite a few things.

Lunair laughs softly. Oh dear. She gives Hope the pepsi, then. "I think dimensional family trees get kind of odd. I'm sure you'll do fine. We're here to help and answer questions," She offers. She goes quiet to listen, and nods. "Neat." Smile. Though, she seems uncertain a moment. "Are you okay? Did anyone else want a drink while I am totally raiding this fridge?" She's helpful! "And that would be the biggest, most confusing but potentially awesome barbeque ever. Would you use eyebeams or fire…?" How would that all go down? "Um." Pause.

Best just to be quiet.

Hope looks over at Cal, "I….guess? I don't know." Though it does finally register, "My belt? It's….from the X-Men, and….and…," she's struggling to remember! "It's…from someone important to me. Someone I want to punch too, but, someone important to me." She touches the belt fondly, expression softenly…for saying she wants to punch them, that's kinda a nice expression!

Though when Hope looks back up, "I kinda want to punch you right now actually," and she smiles soooo sweetly at Scott! But then Lunair is distracting her, and HOpe remembers to open the pepsi to take a drink. "I like eyebeams, kinda cute actually. Pow!"

But Hope then reaches out to give Lunair a one-armed hug, the first one she reached out to touch since arriving here. "It's alright, it's awkward for us all I'm sure," her tone surprisingly compassionate. "Don't worry about it." Gentlness.

But Hope then forces herself to be nicer, "So…Bobby….I'm guessing you are Iceman, right?" Did Nate tell her Bobby was iceman? Ah well!

Hope is ignoring Scott cause he is being a jerk!

« ..yes. Another one. We'll talk. »

About what? Who knows. At least Scott was calm and not ready to unleash the eye-sockets of hell upon Hope. And in the Red tower. Good luck explaining that one to 'Berto.

There was a faint hint of her arm sliding from around Scott, a touch of distance there in that protective hold.. a quiet spreading of herself through the ethers to land upon Bobby's feet. It was the comment really, that caused her to move so swiftly, attempting to form that connection that lightly heats his feet, but turns her avatar a bright blue, mimicking the colours of ice.

« Not if you're the one cooking. You ruined the bacon. »

And if he was open to it? She'd try to tickle him, or jam an invisible finger in his side.

"Have a sandwich, Scott." The plate floats over to him once Nate leaves for the kitchen. "Sure, five hours. Africa." Pause. "You'll need to narrow that down just a little bit." Cal points out. "Africa's kind of large." He's already finished his sandwich so grabs another on the plate's way past. "Don't worry about it, Hope. It'll either come back to you or it won't. More important is the present and what you do here. Whatever happened in the past, here you're starting fresh."

Bobby yelps as if being tickled. It takes him a moment to cotton onto what just happened. He's got a bit of a hot foot too. Well, warm foot. "Hi Jean." He gasps through being tickled. There's only one person he knows who can pull this off and might be impish enough to try. "Is that a - heh hehehe - no on the barbeque?"

Well, Cal could do it. And Hope, he supposes. Being both mimics. And not the awful kind that looks like a goodie box either.

"Heh - You good - heh - there Lun?"

Lunair is a little overwhelmed. She seems to suffer sensory overload in social situations, bringing her system to a halt. She smiles faintly to Bobby and nods. "Yeah, are you?" Peer. She settles quiet as Hope and Scott talk. Both seem stubborn. Oh boy. "Eyebeams would be super cool," She offers. "And no relationship is one hundred percent good times," She notes quietly. She blinks owlishly at the hug, freezing for a second. She returns the one armed hug.

"It's okay. Thanks. But you are welcome, and umm… if you have questions… We're here." And there are still drinks if people wish them.

Hope gets a long stare, similar to the one Scott had just given Bobby. Following a pregnant pause, he murmurs out, "Oh… kay…?"

Jesus Christ. Upspeak.

Reaching out, Scott takes the plate and sniffs at the sandwich before picking it up and taking a bite. "Mmm. Who made this? It's delicious." He's not… exactly sure how to respond to Hope. The whole thing with Rachel was decidedly different. Instead, he backs up, retreats, and goes where he's comfortable. "So, if you're in on the operation, we'll leave at nineteen hundred hours to reach the rendezvous point."

"Ya…fresh, weird concept. Chased all your life with a destiny, finally get it done, and then…boom! Life gives you the middle finger and says sit on it and spin. Awesome, isn't it?" A bitter smirk at that from Hope. But the sarcasm helps cover up the hurt.

Hope chuckles at Bobby's jumping around, "I guess she's still there, the Phoenix-like woman." She…saw her? Ah, anyway, she doesn't say anything further on it. Sometimes she likes to pretend she doesn't know certain things.

Hope nods at Lunair, "Thanks. I don't have a prepaid phone yet, but when I get one, I'll stop by and give you the number." Yep, she adopted Lunair.

Green eyes flicker over at Scott, and with a slight smirk, she freezes his boots to the floor just a bit. Nothing he can't break, and hopefully wouldn't notice right away. She hides her smirk by drinking her pepsi. La, la, la! "So….is this HYDRA operation take down open for anyone?"

« Hi Robert! »

The tickling, it almost seemed never ending, until it suddenly stops cold. Bobby, since she's tethered to him as well, could probably feel the alarm and the increasing concern, as well as the hands that probe parts that are hidden by flesh and incased in ice.

« …Bobby… no.. »

It was almost a sadness, a sadness that caused a disruption within the plane that she was in; the blue facade that she carried slowly bleeding a color darker that causes flames to slowly increase. It carried over towards Bobby as well, and it was possible that his shoes had began to smoke in turn. And soon, that heated direction will turn to Cyclops as the connection to Bobby is gently severed.

« I'm in Lwak. Kenya. Bobby can't come with us tomorrow.. He needs to stay home. »

Grounded!

« Having her with us could be instructive. » Cal sends to Scott. Telepathy means never having to talk with your mouth full. « See her in action, get to know her and let her get to know us. And before you ask, no. I've never met her before anywhere so I'm as in the dark as you are. » "I've found that life doesn't really care what happens to us. It just happens. How we react to it happening is what counts."

Lunair is quiet. She's not sure what's going on. "Bobby did, he's a sandwich champ," Lunair offers helpfully. She nods at Hope. "Okie dokey." Lunair is sort of an odd contradiction in action. On one hand, she has no problems double tapping with a rocket launcher. On the other, she's kind of awkward. Really awkward. There's a blink. "Yeah." She murmurs.

Bobby is indeed, the king of sandwiches. If it's meat between two pieces of bread he can…

Er… he may have been hanging around Berto too much.

But he makes a great sandwich.

It may be instructive for Scott and Jean that Bobby doens't try to hide it… or argue all that much. « I can still do some good. Send me after one of the smaller ones. This is important right? Or… maybe I can keep an eye on M-Town or the comm systems here at DCI if you don't think it's worth it. » Ordinarily that'd be Doug's job but if he's going to be kept out of the field he can still help somehow. This is about more than any one man.

He glances down as he scents hot rubber. "Uh. Jean?" Hot foot bad. Hot foot bad.

"Lwak, Kenya." Scott relays the information to Calvin, all the while having turned his attention upon Bobby again, with one eyebrow raised. "Good sandwich," he offers, in futile hope of… smoothing out whatever is going on there. "I'll need you to hang back, Bobby. Keep an eye on the homestead."

Next, the man looks toward Hope, considering Calvin's telepathic words. "We're going to take down a narcotics ring they are operating," he explains. "Drug that affects mutants specifically. If you're in, you're gonna need to follow orders."

« And I'll need you to keep a leash on her. » That one is sent to Cal. Be careful what you wish for.

Hope nods, "I'm a soldier, I can take orders in the field." Not a hero, a soldier. "Anyway," she sets her half empty pepsi aside, "I better fetch Nate, and head on back. Karolina and the super girl will likely be wondering where I'm at. Just have Nate come get me, or…I created a gmail account," and she provides her e-mail address. "I got a tablet I keep on me when I'm indoors to monitor it."

She then walks to chase after Nate, though Hope pauses by Bobby and ice starts to form about her and Bobby to cool down where it is melting. "And…if you need to talk Bobby. I'm not always a jerk." And she goes to take her leave. Odd thing to say to Bobby! But she said it anyway darn it! And hopefully the use of Bobby's own ice powers helped him out!

Jean backs away from them enough to become a distant memory, save for a brief pat towards Hope's head. For good measure.

There was a moment where she was about to intervene, but Scott makes the order to keep Bobby home, and.. that set her with relief. Hard to be so far away and able to do nothing at all.

«See you in five, Calvin. » And that was that.. she was succored out of the astral plane as fast as she snapped into it.

Oh myyyy. Sandwich king!

Lunair is quiet, and looking thoughtful. She blinks. "… Are your feet on fire?" She's going to pull a water gun. And get Bobby's feet thoroughly wet. But not on fire at least. "Yeah, it's kind of - rough." Lunair doesn't elaborate much. She is a pile of secrets, not fedoras. She headtilts. "Okay. Thank you." She waves to Hope. "Be well." She settles. Well, then. She seems uncertain.

Scott makes to move off, only to find his shoes stuck to the floor. "What the hell?" He gives them a good tug, and they come free from the floor with a telltale crack of ice. "Yeah, now you're definitely sitting this one out, Drake."

Bobby sighs and nods. "Alright Scott. I'll monitor the School and M-Town from here." Magik can get him to the site of any trouble. If there is any. If she's not in the field herself.

"I… er… thanks Hope." Bobby flashes the redhead a grin and then looks over to Scott as he's blamed for Hope's save of the melting rubber. "Next time, you're getting the sandwich with spam and extra sirracha." He deadpans.

"Good luck out there guys. Give 'em hell."

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