10741/Happy Harbor: Cairo By Day

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Happy Harbor: Cairo By Day
Date of Scene: 06 June 2022
Location: Cairo
Synopsis: Day One of Happy Harbor's end of the year trip goes off without a hitch. Which could be bad!
Cast of Characters: Morrigan MacIntyre, Madison Evans, Xiomara Rojas, Belinda Gutierrez, Marc Spector, Richard Stadler, Tommy Shepherd, Colette O'Connail




Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Egypt!

Everyone has been excited and that's because school is over and this was the last official shindig before Summer took over everyones lives. Hotels had been settled into already so that was the biggest hassle. Getting across Cairo to their first destination wasn't that bad. But Morrigan herself was looking like she was not having fun with all the sun. As a matter of fact the Doctor looked quite wrapped up against the glaring of the light. Her sunglasses were over her eyes and she was leaning on the umbrella that she'd brought with her. "Now I don't want anyone running, levitating or just...no breaking things. I don't think the budget will cover replaces artifacts." the Irish woman chuckles. "Be sure to stay in your groups that you go in. Please do not wander off and please don't bite any strangers." she grins as the bus comes to a stop.

"Our first stop is the Egyptian Museum. I'm sure some of you will quite like it." she grins to that before she lets the teens start filing out.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "You know - when I lived in California, we went to this Egyptian Museum in San Jose, of all places," Madison is saying cheerfully, as she nibbles away as some dried fruit they picked up from a street vendor before getting on the bus. "And what I want to know is - how did they get all those artifacts? I mean, there were //four// mummies. For ancient dead people. Apparently they got all their collections in the 1930s or something? And you hear about all these nations trying to repatriate objects and stuff so- well. I guess I'm saying I'm glad we get to see this stuff actually //in// Egypt."
    The girl lowers her voice before adding, "Oh Gosh, I sound like super privileged saying that, don't I?"
    First world, white girl problems.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Miraculously, Crush had in fact managed to pass her finals, leaving her almost graduated. She still had half a year of classes to worry about after the summer was over, but she was almost there. To reward herself for passing, and not having punched anyone at the school in over a year, the Cairo trip was taken.

Settled in at the hotel, unpacked and ready to experience the desert, she wore a white tank top, a pair of cargo style shorts in tan, and tan hiking boots. Of course the black chain was present around her waist, she would never make it /to/ the door without Obelus wrapping in place, let alone out it.

On the bus she was careful not to sit on anyone, or too close to them, while her eyes remained fixed on everything outside. She felt that Ms. MacIntyre's warning about breaking things was aimed directly at her, for good reason of course, so she made note to herself to be extra careful.

"Nah Maddie," she offers, the whitest of white girls really. "It didn't sound like that to me. You just seen some things, know some things."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Touristas! Sun! Sand! A world with No Finals!

And a world so different from home.

"Egypt is nothing like New Mexico," Belinda announces with rapt fascination. She blushes at the Doctor's last admonishment, quivering between the tightest self-control and the sheer wonder at being in a new land. Sights! Smells!

...that has *got* to be lamb! Kebobs from a street-corner food cart?

"There was a museum back home with mummies," she adds, "Though nothing like Egyptian ones. Natural mummies? Not treated but dried out by time and weather and--"

Marc Spector has posed:
    It has been an incredibly tough week for Marc Spector. And now, he has to help chaperone a group of teenagers in Egypt. He has contemplated not going, but it wouldn't help him either way and in the end he realizes that the focus needed to help the kids might actually be a boon in disguise for his particular issue. Besides, he couldn't bail on Morrigan like that. He hasn't seen her since he woke up a week ago, but then again, he hasn't seen many people since he hasn't been in control of his body until this morning.

    Another small blessing is that lack of control helped with the disguise he would be donning. The salt and pepper beard that framed his jaw is a far cry from anything he would've worn himself, but that is sort of the point isn't it? Grey contacts mask his true eye color well enough and the shoulder length wig that tops his head is less an unruly mop than a sleek curtain with a touch of his own natural curl at the ends. He had given himself a look over in the mirror before the trip and shrugged. It would have to do for Marcus Knight which is what was listed on his passport and all other identifiers he had with him for the trip.

    He steps up next to Morrigan as the bus stops and the teens start to file out. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you in your capacity as a teacher before" he says to her with a soft smile. "I'm looking forward to seeing how you handle all of them." His voice dropps to a low whisper between the pair of them. "Also... sorry for being kind of absent this past few weeks. I'll explain more when the time allows."

Richard Stadler has posed:
Richard Stadler did... not expect to get into action this quickly, certainly. He certainly wasn't going to argue about a flight to Egypt (even economy on these overseas flights as something to behold), and it was something to check off on the travel checklist. He'd not been this far north in Africa before, that was certain!

But it didn't help him from feeling like something of an observer throughout the process; it was easy enough on the flight to forget why he was flying over, almost, but tagging along with a gaggle of teenagers was an easy reminder of it. At least he didn't have to keep up with the fashion trends these days, wearing cargo shorts, a short sleeve shirt, and a 'boonie' hat to keep the sun off of his face. He'd been sure to lather himself down with sunscreen; no reason to tackle UV rays this late in the game, after all

He kept to the rear of the group, listening to the talk of mummies visited and mummies yet to visit. He debated chiming in, but for the life of him, what anthropology he had learned about was rather out of reach at the moment, and he idly wondered if everyone in this group had the right shots to be in this country.

One thing he coould speak to, as Madison spoke. "First good thing is realizing you're a visitor to a new country, and something of an Ambassador. So long as you remind yourself that you're a guest and act politely, I'm sure you'll do fine."

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    It only took an hour on the plane before Tommy had come to regret signing up for this whole thing. He'd tried, really, to prepare. Honestly. Audiobooks and podcasts downloaded on his phone (sped up 20x), half a library in his carry-on, and enough snacks to feed an army of teenagers, except they were all for him.

    As it turns out though, speedsters and close, confined spaced don't mix well. Especially when it's 10 straight hours of those close, confined spaced.

    He paced up and down the aisles whenever the seatbelts-fastened signs weren't lit up. Flirted with every single one of the flight attendants. Sure, Tommy disembarks the plane carrying his own weight in peanuts and pretzels, but at what cost?

    A freak out in the hotel bathroom (minimal property damage, don't worry Ms. MacIntyre!) and a very long nap. Thankfully he's rooming alone. It gives him enough time to compose himself before their scheduled trip, and so he only looks vaguely harried in that way Tommy always does when he is suddenly amidst the rest of the group.

    It's mostly the hair.

    Which he swiftly tucks underneath a baseball cap advertising the Omaha Storm Chasers, a minor league team. Their mascot is, 100% for real, a tornado with a baseball bat for a nose.

    "...shit, forgot my sunscreen," Tommy mutters to himself. He could run back and grab it from his room, but instead he sweeps a quick look across the assembled students and casually moseys on up to Madison. "Hey, uh... Maddy, right?" He thinks that's her name, or at least close to it. "You got any SPF you could spare?"

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Sunshine, so much sunshine. It's forecast to break a hundred tomorrow. Vacation. Pyramids and antiquities. The only thing that could make this better is fewer students to herd. Colette -- that's Ms. O'Connail to said charges, has been sitting at the back of the bus where she can keep an eye on /everyone/. Or possibly sleep without anyone noticing. The great advantage to a teacher of sunglasses is you can't telling whether they are asleep or staring right at you and observing your every transgression.

    Possibly looking deep into your soul for signs of potential future transgressions.

    If it had indeed been sleep, she woke up very quickly when the bus came to a halt, to herd people out of the bus and ensure there were no stragglers. There shouldn't be -- the great red stone frontage and the presence of a large stone sphinx in the forecourt promises that this museum visit will be something special, certainly more interesting than the inside of the tour bus.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Marc could absolutely bail on Morrigan, but it was sweet that he didn't! "I'm surprised you made the flight, but it's nice." she tells the man that's standing off to the side with her. "Riordan was going to call you last night, but I told him not to bother you." she adds in a quiet tone. The woman looks over her glasses, her violet gaze looking over his disguise, "You were having a rough few weeks, don't worry about it." she tells him.

"And hopefully we won't have to pull out the teacher voices, Mister Knight." she grins to that. "Now, have you been here before?" she asks him. She's also keeping a careful track on all the kids without employing magic. Which might be a bad idea.

Declan and Delia run off with Tyler and the others disperse into their own little groups of gossiping teens. The poor museum wasn't going to know what hit them.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Oh! Yeah, here!" Madison says brightly. She reaches into the backpack she's carrying (which is shaped to look like the Mandalorian riding a bantha with Grogu beside him, because of course it is), to hand over some spray on sunscreen. "Don't spray it on your face - yeah? Spray it onto your hands and rub it in." As if everyone didn't know that already.
    "I'm pretty sure it still sounds privileged, I mean, not everyone can AFFORD to fly to Egypt to see this stuff but- well. I mean. It'd be better if the US museums - if they Egyptian stuff was still OWNED by Egypt, and on loan. You know? I mean, everyone should be able to see this stuff but- how is it right to dig up some ancient person out of his tomb and then be all 'MINE NOW?' You know?" She files out of the bus, looking up at the sphinx and murmuring to herself, "...probably not allowed to climb the thing. Mental note. Darn."

Marc Spector has posed:
    "He probably wouldn't have been able to get me if he tried" Marc replies and then looks at her at the question. "You're kidding right?" he asks her with a smirk. "Yes I've been here before... a few times in fact." Cairo is, after all, the closest city to the temple of Khonshu where Moon Knight was born. "It's a fun city; but it's also painfully easy to get lost in so... having eyes on the kids at all times would be ideal."

    He slips on a simple grey baseball cap, unadorned by any logo or symbol on it and slips on a pair of glasses as well. "Let's just hope that they're as aware of this as I am." He looks over the crowd of kids and follows in Morrigan's wake.

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    Madison gets a quiet "Thanks" as she hands the spray can over, and Tommy shakes it once before he... just hands it right back. Except now his skin is slightly less dry than it was a moment ago, and he smells beachy in that way sunscreen makes you smell.

    Or maybe it's just that our minds associate sunscreen with the beach? Eh, who knows.

    "They didn't just say 'mine now,' they ground mummies up to use in paint, ate mummies for their supposed medicinal properties, it was wild. They had unwrapping parties, which are exactly what you think they are." Tommy rubs his hands together, trying to friction away the greasy feeling on his palms. "One of the books I read on the flight went into the whole morbid history of it. People in the Victorian age were wild, lemme tell you."

    Rather than keep at it, because maybe he shouldn't be trying to rub away the film of sunscreen coating his skin on account of how it's supposed to be protecting him from the sun trying to fry him like an egg, Tommy tucks his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. A hoodie, in June, in Egypt? Look, he's a teenager, okay?

Richard Stadler has posed:
Richard Stadler takes a deep breath. "Please do not climb on the exhibits, yes. That would be bad." He dead pans, looking on up ahead. Dr. MacIntyre seems to have things well in handle up front, at least, so he could make sure this group didn't... spontaneously combust or get into similar sorts of trouble. At least he didn't have a problem keeping situational awareness, even if the act left a mental pang of being naked without certain items.

"Possession of items is generally 9/10ths of the law. It may not be right, but it is the situation in some places. That being said, I... beleive that a lot of the Egyptian antiquities nowadays are on loan from the country. Heightened awareness of the problems of colonialism, I imagine, and a bit... out of scope here. So. We can generally just... enjoy the exhibits."

he looks over to Tommy, opening his mouth slightly, and closing it. The boy had read a book; that probably gave him more knowledge than Rick had at this point. "I imagine so." He says, simply.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Being over six feet in height, and having the purest of white skin (clouds got nothing on her), it would be extremely difficult for Crush to sneak off if she wanted to, but she didn't. She had never been to Egypt, or a museum for that matter, so the whole thing had her interest right where it needed to be... the possibility of seeing something she's never seen before and learning something else.

Lingering around with the other kids, attempting to be part of the herd while not actually being part of it (it was a skill), she kept close to Madison. The glee squad always had a way of keeping her from losing her temper over the little things, like that guy over there staring at her as if snakes just sprouted from her forehead and slithered away. Normally, she'd go punch him, see if she could get him over a building, but not today. Today she was attempting to ignore him.

"No punching, no punching, no punching," is mumbled a total of five times until she was in fact settled then she looks to Ms. MacIntyre, and then Ms. O'Connail, as if checking to make sure they were there and not coming at her for just thinking about punching.

"I wonder if I would sunburn," she says more loudly out of no where, looking at her bare arm. She never really thought about it, and it had never happened before, but that didn't mean it wasn't possible, right?

Looking up at the Sphinx for a moment, she looks back to Madison, "Want a boost to get a better look?"

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda giggles at some random thought, pulling her focus from the scent of--beef? Chicken? LAMB -- back to the here-and-now, focusing intently with her nose buried in a tour pamphlet as she steps down from the bus. "Wow-- it say this museum has statues from many of the Dynasties are all here. Including a few from some Sun Guru, a cat-headed guy, a couple of things from some 'faegoes'--" She headtilts at the last, nostrils quivering in distraction. Beef. Must be beef. Maybe?

"And ewww. Eating mummies. Like chewing on ten thousand year old uber-beef jerky!" She shudders, shaking her head. Blinking! "It say the Museum somehow made it through the World War 2 with only minor bombing damage to the museum itself. No damage to the artifacts. Tres bueno!"

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "People have been digging up mummies for a long time Madison," Colette says. "Most of the ones outside Egypt have been there for a long time, but they still keep digging them up here every day. Certainly better to be locked away in an American museum than the alternatives. Tommy's telling the truth. The paint was called 'Mummy Brown', but that was a relatively minor thing. It was said that a single mummy could supply all the artists of Paris with enough pigment to last a decade. The medicine thing though, that was a serious issue. The Europeans picked up the habit from the Arabs during the Crusades, and for several hundred years it was a very popular form of medicine. So much so that some less scrupulous apothecarists would have people murdered and quickly mummified to provide fake mummy powder." "

    Imparting interesting and useful information is all part of being a good teacher. If you can lodge a thought into the over-active imaginations of your students that will leave then ever so faintly traumatized for knowing it, even better.

    Declan, Delia and Tyler going off anywhere is generally a good indication that the direction trouble is likely to be found. The guards here don't take much nonsense, and the terrible trio may find that out before long. Colette stares after them for a few moments, taking a quick silent bet with herself on whether they get arrested by the antiquities police or suffer an ancient curse first.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
"Rio probably would have visited you while you were asleep. He's weird like that. But if you are ever in a coma again we know that he can send messages." Morrigan tells Marc with a soft laugh. She opens the umbrella once they are outside given the sun is already bothering her. Something that is said by the man next to her makes her start marking the teens with her only little spell. The violet glyphs fill with black though once they start to fade, "Alright. Definitely not wanting to lose any of them." she admits.

"Is the Temple far, do you want to see it while you're here?" she asks him.

Madison Evans has posed:
    Still looking up at the sphinx, Madison answers Xiomara in a distracted, dreamy sort of voice, "Nah. It's okay." She then pulls her eyes away to grin at the girl beside her. "I was just picturing if it came to life and stood up. How rad would that be?" Yup. Not terrifying - rad.
    "I think it's still worth discussing the problems of Colonialism," she remarks, backing Tommy up. "I mean. Consider it part of our //moral// education to ask these questions. Yeah?"

Marc Spector has posed:
    Marc nods. "It's a side trip I plan to take when I can..." he says, still keeping his voice conspiratorial. "That is... if I can find it" he adds, taking in the sights around them. "That's part of what I need to talk to you about. I've been... cut off" he says. "Something happened during the eclipse and it's..." He makes a brief face of discomfort.

    "Which makes finding the place all the more difficult. It's not like it's marked on any maps." He adds his own commentary to Madison's interest. "He'd just ask you riddles. And they wouldn't be the fun kind of riddles either, they'd be some of the hardest you ever had to put your mind to." He smiles at Morrigan. See! He can be at least conversational with kids when he has a mind to.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
"And duty to not eat mummies," Belinda adds, finally sighing as she folds the museum pamphlet back up. Shoving it into her back pocket, she gives the stone sphinx a closer look-- most definitely not thinking about the taste of--

Shudder. Thought about it.

"I hate riddles," she remarks, shaking her head as she gives a mock-shiver. "But it could be worse-- Sudden Death Math Equations!"

Richard Stadler has posed:
Richard Stadler takes a bit of a deep breath, and has to remind himself that it was perfectly normal for teenagers to have flights of imagination. And at least one of the other teachers... Knight? Knight. Had a decent answer to that. "It'd certainly be a dangerous experience, and not one I'd want to try. I'd think it be less... cute, and more like that guy in Gotham."

Another breath. "You know, back in my day, we just took a field trip to a lighthouse and didn't have the uncomfortable questions." And he really wished these teenagers didn't have a point, but they did. "I suppose that is a topic of conversation that needs to be brought up, then... and I'm hoping there's some education about it over here..." He notes. There was /nothing/ about colonialism in the Teacher's Edition of the biology textbook he had; Easy does it, all part of the learning experience, life long learners, ectera ectera.

"And yes, I'd rather no one decide to eat mummies here. Probably tastes like old pork, anyway." A little attempt at humor! Right? Oh, God.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "You could make a case that the Egyptians were the first great colonial empire," Colette points out, just to blur the issues. "Dynastic Egypt was the result of one cultural group conquering all the others in the area, under the Pharoah Narmer. After that there was no stopping them. The Egyptians had vassal states in two continents, possibly three."

    "The culmination was probably under Rameses the second. Under him the Egyptians fought the battle of Qadesh against a confederacy of other groups. Some historians have described it as the real first world war."

    "However, yes -- probably not best to eat any mummies, even if they were colonialists. They have a specific branch of the police here to deal with people who damage antiquities, and I'm fairly sure that eating mummies would count as their territory." She glances briefly at Richard. "Also this is Muslim country, they frown on eating pork."

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    The info from the book is probably only going to stick around in Tommy's mind for another 24 hours or so. Best to take advantage of it as he can. "Given that they were ground up before consumption, they mostly tasted like dust," he says.

    Actually, the sooner this information is out of his brain, the better. "They were mixed with herbs or into oil or something, I think... so I guess they tasted like... a really gross green smoothie." His nose wrinkles.

    In hindsight, maybe he should have picked up some more leisurely reading than that one about mummies and cannibalism. There's a limit to even the Gen Z dark humor.

    He gets his hands on a museum pamphlet himself, but Tommy doesn't do much more than flip through it, not actually reading it.

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison can't help but giggle at Tommy's comment. "That doesn't make sense. You grind up nutmeg before you eat it - it tastes like nutmeg. Just because you grind something up doesn't mean it loses all its flavor. See: coffee."
    Her gaze goes back up to the sphinx as she adds, "I'm ready for your riddles, Mister. Bring 'em!" She puts up her dukes like getting ready for a fight - then laughs, and lowers them again. "Alright. Let's go in and see the exhibits!" She starts bounding for the entrance.
    It's really the only way to describe how she moves.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
"I would just like to see something with Anubis in it and that will make my trip." Morrigan grins to that. She was getting pale again. Then she looks back to Marc as he speaks and her brows furrow, "Cut off?" she asks him in a whisper. "Do you think I could find it?" she asks him. "Mister Knight is right in that." she admits to that.

Then she's looking back to her other half, "I think we're both in a bit of a mess right now, but yours seems easier to fix." she admits.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
How Tommy got onto the topic of eating mummies, as dust or like jerky, Crush had no idea, but she was listening with a half smirk, half grin on her face. There was a lot about the history of this world she didn't know, just enough to pass the tests in school and not a thing more. So his information, no matter how dark, was absorbed.

"The special of the day, mummy dust soup with a side of bread," she comments with a snerk, then her attention goes back to Madison.

"It would be totally rad for that thing to get up and start walking around," she offers, then pauses to listen to Mr. Knight. "Well... that made it less rad, but still rad enough. I mean, it's a giant stone Sphinx asking riddles. May not have the answers, but doesn't change what's asking."

That shared, she slips back into the quiet mode of watching. She clearly needed to read more, cause this conversation in general was going in several directions that she had no idea about. As Madison bounds toward the entrance, she finds herself really grateful someone finally headed inside, and follows.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda perks, well and truly (briefly) distracted. Pork! "Pork and formaldehyde," she suggests, grimacing greenly. "Mummy soup. Mummy steaks. Whole new image behind Finger Foods!"

She gives the Sphinx a last, long look before turning away to pursue after Madison and Crush. "Hey!" she calls, racing after. "Coffee is negocio serio-- serious business! You do not mock la java!"

Marc Spector has posed:
    Marc(us) is quick to offer another to Madison. "I walk on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening. What am I?" he says to the young girl. While he waits for her to sus out the answer he looks to Morrigan and drops his voice again. "It's possible. You've been around Moon Knight enough that mystically you might be able to pick up a trail of sorts... we'll have to see, won't we?" he says with a small smile.

    "I'll be alright here... but things have become... unstable inside." he says gesturing to his head. "Control is less certain and a lot of shared knowledge was lost. I'll be alright. I just have to keep focused on the task at hand."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Six, if you use a walker!" Madison calls back to Mr. Knight, while walking backwards. Then she abruptly... bursts into song. "It cannot be seen, it cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, Lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills. Comes first follows after, Ends life kills laughter."
    Someone's seen the animated Hobbit movie. Because of course she has.

Richard Stadler has posed:
Stadler is really learning a lot about trying to control a group of teenagers that get set on very odd branches of conversation, and perhaps regretting having played a part of the talk of various ways to prepare mummy. He does at least give a nod to Colette. "Very true. The reasons one should not consume mummified flesh just keep piling up, don't they? I think we can safely say that this was a bad idea to bring up." He says, before there's a lot of animated movement toward the entrance. He swallows a curse and increases his own pace. "No running! Slow it down over there!" He calls forward.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Things tend to lose their flavor after being hollowed out, filled with cassia and myrrh, left buried in salt for seventy days to dry out, then wrapped in cotton, soaked in bitumen, and left underground for a few thousand years," Colette points out to those discussing the taste of mummies. "So Tommy's right, it would probably taste very little like human, and probably something like coal dust. "

    "Fresh human now, in that case Mr. Stadler would be right with the pork thing. The Fijian cannibals called human flesh 'puaka balava', which translates as 'long pig'.

    Ther may not have been a history teacher available to make the trip, but honestly they probably wouldn't have been a specialist in Egyptology anyway, and the English teacher who came along seems to be full of historical facts anyway.

    Perhaps with an emphasis on slightly gruesome historical facts, but there you go.

    "Darkness," Colette replies to Maddie's riddle. "It's wrong though. Darkness doesn't end life. Other way around if anything. Also people laugh in the dark all the time."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crush pauses a moment to look back at who was calling after them. Belinda. She didn't know her, but that didn't matter. She was being nice today, which meant putting on a smile as she says, "It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the bean of Java that the thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion."

Someone has seen the older version of Dune, surprising.

She looks back to Madison, lifting a brow as she breaks into song. For a moment she's ready to laugh but then she recognizes the song from an animated movie her adoptive parents and her watched. "Wow, that's a blast from the past," she comments, grin growing broader.

As Ms. O'Connail offers the answer to the riddle, her head cants and she has to think about it. This causes her enough distraction that she almost walks into Madison but managed to stop herself just in time. "Nope, don't get it." she finally voices with a shrug.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "If the sun went out, we'd all diiiiiie!" Madison counters. She sounds remarkably cheerful declaring something like that.
    "And I would never, EVER belittle coffee. Or chocolate. They're too important," she adds a bit belatedly. She then disappears through the doors and immediately declares, "Ooo! Pharoahs! ...or are they Gods?"

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
"Augh!" Belinda complains, hiding her ears behind her hands as the onslaught of riddles ignites. "Not listening, not hearing, la-la-la!" she complains, lips twitching as she runs ahead. Out of sun, out of unshadowed light. Relative cool of shadow, of the Museum! And slows down. No running.

Ms. Collete might frown. Soul-gazing!

"Java over all," she agrees with Crush and Maddie, offering her fists outward for a good-natured bump. Solidarity!

And no longer thinking of food. Definitely not!

"I...?" she begins, glancing back towards the exhibits. "...maybe? Sort of? I think it was all mixed together, somehow. Noble divine royalty?"

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    It's the nerd quotes moreso than the riddles themselves that fly over Tommy's head. He looks back and forth between Crush and Madison, before he ducks his head down and makes a strategic decision to retreat.

    At least with super-speed, he'll be able to read all of the plaques and stuff on the walls next to the exhibits before they move on. But for now he examines the map in the museum brochure with studious intensity. Or, really, the intensity of someone who is easily distracted but in this moment is trying very, very hard not to be. Though of course it doesn't take him long at all to find what he's looking for, on it.

    "Dr. MacIntyre, is it alright if I make a pitstop at the cafeteria?"

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan has to take a moment to stop and rest and there's a moment she just watches the teens and the teachers. Tyler moves back towards her but she doesn't realize it until he touches her arm. Which makes her jump, "Tyler, what's wrong?" she asks. He doesn't say anything, just gives a point off towards where there is a symbol for Anubis and that causes her to smile, "Ah, thank you. I need to make a visit to his eminence." she muses.

Marc's words are rather...disturbing, "What is missing?" she asks him with a frown. "Or do you need me to look over things?" she asks him.

Then she looks to Tommy and there is a smile, "Sure, pitstop sounds like a good idea. Anyone else need to visit the restroom or get a snack or drink?" she asks the crowd.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
"Darkness is the base state of existence, Crush," Colette explains. "It's what is there if nothing else is. Energetic excitation of particles causes heat and light, and from that you get matter and life. Wherever things aren't, there is darkness. In a hole where the sun cannot reach. Behind a star. So on."

    Colette is a bit odd.

    "A bit of both," Colette agrees with Belinda. "The Pharaohs weren't generally deified, though there were a few exceptions. They were considered divine intermediaries though, somewhere half way between human and god. They were certainly considered to consort with the gods." She points out a red granite carving of a pair of seated figures. "That's Rameses the second, who I mentioned earlier, sitting next to the god Ptah. It's a fair bet the sculptor couldn't get Ptah to sit for his portrait. It's symbolic of the idea that the pharaohs ruled beside the gods though.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Food was mentioned, or rather the cafeteria. Crush doesn't have to eat, not a lot really, but the idea of seeing what the cafeteria offered got her attention. Then Ms. O'Connail is explaining about darkness and pointing out the statue of Ramses the Second with someone called Ptah, who was apparently a god. She poked the cafeteria thinking back for a moment, walking over to look at the old, broken statue.

"They keep this for the historical value?" she asks plainly, looking over the missing pieces while actually trying rather hard to understand why, why they would be showing off something that broken. "Sentimental? Something older than all of us combined to show off?"

Whether there is an answer or not, she snorts and moves back over by Belinda, not right up in her space or anything, just closer. "Names Crush," she finally offers, then remembers that your supposed to offer a hand to shake so shoots it out there toward the small teen. She instantly reminds herself to be careful, that this girl was breakable, so if the hand is taken and shook, the grip is lacking.

Marc Spector has posed:
    "Got it in one," Marc offers to Madison. He's not one for riddles himself, it's just the riddle of the Sphinx is so iconinc it's not hard to pick it up here and there. To Morrigan he shakes his head. "I'm not sure. Like I said, something happened during the eclipse and it's... without his help, things get... turbulent." He makes a sad smirk in response to his word choices.

    Turning to the Pharaoh's statue he adds, for the kids, "They saw themselves as gods in their own right. Sometimes walking with a big stick--i.e. confidence--is enough to get your point across. For them... that and the entire army behind them was plenty. Most tried to model themselves after Ra and Horus, the first two great god kings of their legends." He very explicitly uses the word legends, as opposed to myths because the gods--to him--are not fables.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
"I'm--" Belinda shakes her head firmly, grasping the urge to hunt down the cafeteria she can *smell* with a savage restraint. "I'm fine, Ms. MacIntyre," she repeats for her own benefit. She looks back at the statue for a moment, studying it in quiet curiosity. "Maybe a trip to the bookstore..." she admits, brushing her hand along her arm. "I wonder if the museum has one?"

Probably beside the cafeteria. Beef-scent. Darn it.

"Belinda," she answers back to Crush, murmuring as she accepts the offered handshake, squeezing firmly. She gives a glance, half an ear for Mr. Knight's explanation. "Heavy makeup?" she asks, nostrils quivering-- darnit. Food. She tilts her head back to the statues, considering. "I do not know. Pride? Hubris? They liked themselves carved in stone so as to outlast the desert winds?" She shrugs helplessly, shaking her head.

Richard Stadler has posed:
Stadler is trying to watch the reat of the group still, making sure that there aren't some students that decide to hang back and roam the musuem on their lonesome and inevitably breaking something historically significant. He's not going to speak up one way or the other for food; he managed to eat well at the hotel, and his metabolism was far enough from a teenagers to be immediatly regretable thinking about the difference. Nevertheless, the conversation seemed to have moved to history and mythological naval gazing by the time his attention moves back to it. At least he can reference Crush's question.

"History is a perfectly valid reason to keep an item. Knowing one's history is an... important way to connect to those who came before us. And a way for those who'll come after to connect with us. Not that I think this trip's going to be historical. Or, at the very least, it better not."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
"'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair. Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.' Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote those words." The English teacher is back to literature. "About this very king. Ozymandias was the Greek name for Rameses the second. Shelley certainly thought of it as hubris, Belinda. Flesh decays, but stone will outlast human memory and make the person so carved seem immortal."

    Colette can't help a hint of a smile hitting her features. Immortal indeed. Xiomara's suggestion that they are older than all of them combined is very wide of the mark. Silly humans. Carved stone barely lasts any time at all.

    "Why people today are interested, Crush? Historical value, yes. People like to know where they have come from. It helps them to see their own place in the universe. And to face their own mortality. People find an odd kind of reassurance to know that there were people pretty much like they are all those thousands of years ago. It makes them feel less lonely."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
And there it was, the reason people were in fact staring at her with this group of normal looking people, pulled right out by Belinda with a simple question. Releasing the girl's hand, Crush clears her throat a little to keep her calm on.

"Nope, I'm not human," she offers bluntly, keeping the edge of anger out of her tone. That in and of itself was a miracle, but then she continues with, "This is just how my people look. Makes me stand out, but I'm working on not giving rats as... butt about it."

One more moment is taken to ensure she's still got her calm on, before she looks back at the statue. Knowing your history. Those who came before us. She wants to laugh, but she gets it. For the humans around her that was probably a good thing to know, to have the ability to learn.

"Makes sense then, for humans. Thanks Mr. Stadler, Ms. O'Connail, for the answer," she finally offers, accepting the statue as a historical artifact. "Now... let's find that cafeteria, I'm dying ta see what they offer."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Oooo, no cussing! Don't make me tell my mother!" Madison chastizes Crush - but she's grinning to show that she's joking. She turns back to studying the statue, then asks abruptly, "Can we go see some of the mummies? Do they have some with like- when the artists use the scan of their skull to recreate their face in life? Because that is just SO cool. I mean - have you ever thought about how neat it would be to let someone do a scan of your head, and then see if an artist can get your face right?
    "No?
    "No one else?
    "That's just me? ... okay then. Moving on."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda's look curves back to the half-Czarnian girl, nostrils almost visibly quivering. She gazes for a few seconds, smile growing on her lips. "Neat!" she offers, answers, and simple as that-- alien encounters in the heart of Egypt! And only pictures of pyramids in sight.

She listens as the teachers offer their words in explanation, nodding as she ponders the stonework in deep thought. Grave concerns.

...steak. Bacon. Steak wrapped in bacon. Could kill large animals just for bacon. Sigh.

"Ma'ams?" she asks, turning back to the teachers. "Could we hit the cafeteria before seeign the rest of the exhibits? I don't think I had enough breakfest before we left the hotel this morning. I could eat horses!"

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan gives a nod to that, "Alright, Belinda." she smiles to her. She then gives a look around to the others, "I think I need something. My head is killing me." she admits. "Mister Knight, we'll have to talk about the logistics of things in just a moment and...hopefully I can help." she tells him. "Tyler, you can come with me if you want." she tels him. Just in case she falls over. Because she still looks a little like death. "There are plenty of mummies to see." she points out as she heads off in the direction of the cafeteria.

Richard Stadler has posed:
Stadler pauses, for a moment. It would have been impolite to ask, but he certainly was informed of the nature of this school and it's students. So. Best thing to do would not make any condenceding remarks and just... accept the thanks. "Glad to give it. We're here to educate, after all. This is all rather new to me as well; never been to Egpyt before. Perks of the job coming through in spades." He gives a bit of a smile towards Crush, and then nods over to Morrigan on the descision to head over to the Cafeteria. Certainly, that Gutierrez kid looked like she needed it, even before annoucing it. "Fair enough there, heading to the cafeteria. I don't see why horse get's a bad wrap, though. It isn't that bad, prepared properly."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette points Maddie towards a staircase that leads down from the main hall, a sign promising the 'Royal Mummies Hall' below. "We'll certainly go look at some mummies. They have quite a collection here. Rameses II himself is down there, along with half a dozen other Rameseses, a handful of Thutmoses, and I think they have the entire set of Amenhoteps. The Pharaoahs were a bit like popes, they weren't that original when it came to names."

    "So yeah, mummies after a stop over for snacks. Our tickets cost extra to get entrance to the hall of mummies, so it would be silly not to go take a look."

Marc Spector has posed:
    Marc nods to Morrigan and follows along with her. After all, they do have -some- catching up to do between them. Hopefully, once the museum run was done, they'd get some time for that. In the meantime, there were a number of intersting exhibits to take in. It'd been a while since he was in Egypt for any amount of time--so maybe being a tourist was a good change of pace. Serious discussions and worrisome tidings of his alter ego--or in his case egos--could wait.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
It was odd for Crush to actually be getting along with people. She wasn't used to it, nor had she spoken so much in the last month as she had in this one trip to the museum. Perhaps there was something to this 'being nice' thing, even if it was more difficult that swallowing glass... she wouldn't do that again.

"I wouldn't mind seeing real mummies," she comments as she heads for the cafeteria. "Just a snack, you know, to rebuild energy for seeing scanned mummies and facial reconstruction."

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison's gaze lingers on the entrance to the exhibit - as she trails along with the other kids. "...yeah," she agrees reluctantly. "Just a snack first..."
    She's almost immediately back to her bouncy self as she adds, "You think it'll be as good as the street food? I hope there's not too much Westernized stuff to accomodate the tourists. We've in Egypt! We should eat //Egyptian// food! Not like- mac 'n cheese or whatever."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
"Do they have something spicy?" Belinda inquires, falling in just beside Crush. "I would not expect proper spices, but they might have red pepper, or black pepper, or peppercorns...."

Long pause. "Did they mummify volunteer troops, soldiers? I had heard somewhere that ancient Chinese emperors had whole armies made out of clay or terracotta or sandstone or something..."

Richard Stadler has posed:
"Well, then." Rick said, continuing to bring up the rear of the group and at least trying to herd them all in the right direction. "Sounds like we have an itinerary. Food, then mummies. Though given the way the discussion has bee going, best to keep that seperate." What, was he trying to teach the teens he was hip? "I can agree, though. You only get a few attempts in, so you might as well sample as much as the culture as you can. We'll see what they have."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Terracotta," Colette confirms to Belinda. "It wasn't a common habit for Chinese emperors, just something the first emperor got it into his head to do. It's a bit of a cultural oddity there in fact. There's some speculation that it was in imitation of Greek customs introduced to the neighboring regions by the successor states of Alexander the Great's empire."

    "Mummification was different though. It was supposed to grant a degree of immortality, so it wasn't for the common worker or soldier, only for the elites. Though as Egypt developed a middle class, being mummified became trendy and mass-market. Eventually even relatively low-class scribes and merchants could afford it. That's probably why they stopped doing it."

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
    Somewhere on the premises, Tommy is eating his way through approximately twenty kebabs.