14526/Spring Thaw

Spring Thaw
Date of Scene:	27 March 2023
Location:	Garage and Stables
Synopsis:	A brief lesson in botany soon turns to talk of higher education possibilities, wedding plans, and why someone lowers herself to wear drab flannel. And donkey scritches.
Cast of Characters:	Ororo Munroe, Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde, Tabitha Smith, Jubilation Lee, Noriko Ashida, Negasonic

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Ororo Munroe has posed:
The Xavier grounds gardens are less 'old-world luxury' and more 'horticultural research zone'. Over the years the greenhouses and nurseries have continued to grow, making accomodations for plants that can't weather the New England weather or who need special care and tending to propagate.

That also means Ororo has a tendency to just co-opt space wherever she can find it, which sometimes includes parts of the stables. With some of the other X-men in tow she pulls back a plastic sheet and carefully unzips the blacked-out grow cube inside. Warmth can be felt palpably radiating from the container.

"Calathea Ornata," Ororo remarks to the others with a deeply satisfied expression. "It doesn't do well in New England, but I'm determined to grow it in the greenhouses this year if possible." She unzips the container all the way and turns off the grow light. The heavy plots are hauled out, one for each of them. "We need to prune the withered leaves and any root snares," she explains. Ororo's in coveralls over a long-sleeved black-cotton shirt, with authentic leather sandals. It seems the clothing is picked out for durability over confronting the winter cold. She pushes her plaits of white hair back from her face and kneels down to start working on one. "This is the third year I've seen growth from this batch. Please do be careful," she urges the others, and starts pruning the failing leaves. "Better to take less than more material."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would be out wearing a set of leather boots, slacks, and a button up blouse. "So is there a plan forw hat to do with it? And will you be maintaining it yourself or passing it over to the students?" Botany had never been any great interest of Emma's, but she didn't particularly find it relaxing.

Emma was out here almost whimsically while sipping over from a goblet of wine. "And do you think you could setup some catnip plants out here? They might help me keep Catseye slightly distracted."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde comes outside, hands in the pockets of her jacket. Lockheed is darting about above her, finally moving down to land on Kitty's shoulder. "I don't know. I'm stumped. Maybe a visitor? I mean, the retro arcade has only been open a little while, but maybe someone's family who came to visit?" Kitty says towards Lockheed of whatever she's deep in thought about.

"M... MSS. Um... Marie... Something Something... PBL... um. Peanut Butter... Licorice," she says in an irritated voice at her lack of progress on whatever this conundrum is. Spotting others over dealing with the plants, Kitty heads that way. Maybe they'll know.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha had not actually been part of the gardening entourage. While she's spent plenty of time helping tend to Ororo's plants in the mansion. The greenhouses and actual larger gardens tended to be where Tabby mysteriousy always wanished.

Besides she also had other duties.

Mostly being a Donkey Mama to Jerome Badonk Smith, the X-Donk. Codename and all. Mostly taking him out for a walk about the grounds. She never rides him though some of the students and staff may have been allowed in the past. The clip clop sound of hooves on harder ground giving others the knowledge he's around.

Soon after, a blonde in faded and dirt and grassed scuffed jeans and an oversized red and grey plaid flannel shirt follows behind. Oversized meaning she can actually button the thing up under her neck and it covers her midriff. A pink tee collar peeking while old workboots in tan on her feet keep those feet safe. A baseball cap with the school's name on the front worrn backwards while hair in a loose ponytail bunches up in the folded down collar.

Amazingly she's not wearing her usuall spiky accessries. Just plain, kinda tomboyish.

You do not clean stables in neon. "Hope no one is messing with my cashcro... tomatos." she acts like she's backtracking.

Ororo knows Tabby is not growing weed.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Even the most territorial horses have made their peace with what's been happening in the empty stalls of their precious stables. There might be an occasional huff of horse breath or a gentle clap of horseshoe, but otherwise the animals have remained stoic and quiet about the whole thing. The peace is briefly interrupted by a sudden commotion from beyond the plastic sheets that separate the greenhouse from the stables proper. The whinnies start out low and gentle but quickly ramp up in intensity, pitch, and general nervousness. A light casts a shadow on the plastic -- a large, eerie shadow belonging to a person with a bald, skull-like head, triangular torso, and two pointy shoulders. The shadow's arms are held out, bent upwards at the elbows, with two hands made up of long, spindly fingers. As the shadow begins to get larger and more defined, the horse commotion ramps up. Someone or something truly awful is just beyond the sheet....

    ...which peels open...

    ...And Jubilation Lee slips in quietly. The shadow that had supposedly belonged to some kind of monster from a German expressionist horror movie was cast by a short, pale Asian girl with a particularly pale complexion. No skull-like head. No pointy shoulders. Weird.

    "Tabby, are you growing weed again?" is her first question, pushed loudly through her bright, fangy smile. It fades when she sees the arrangement of teachers, faculty, and adult-types.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"I like to think of it as 'outsourcing care'," Ororo tells Emma with a flashing smile. "But yes. I won't unleash this on the students unless my botanists really want to try to raise it. This is just a project for me."

She glances over her shoulder as the others converge; Ororo's perception of her world twigs her instincts to people moving her direction pretty readily. When Tabby asks the question Ororo just grins at the girl. "If they're -your- tomatos, then they are *my* chili peppers," she chivvies Tabby. "But if you want to run your own garden and food truck and go to the farmer's market in your own stall, we can come to an arrangement."

Jubilee's saucy outburst just gets a steady, level look from Ororo. After all, there might be children running about! She doesn't admonish Jubilee for it in any way though, and turns her face back down to her work to help her hide an amused smile.

Kitty gets an inviting wave; it's hard to tell if she's headed their way or woolgathering, so Ororo opts simply for a friendly invitation over.

Emma Frost has posed:
Katherine's approach is met by a glance from Emma and a quiet nod. Always trying to tkae care not to push thier occasional mutual antagonism to bubble over the surface. She would laugh at Ororo, "My, that does seem like some sort of challenge thrown down. Perhpas if there's a talent show this year some sort of bake off could be done as part of it? SEe whichof the students and faculty can do the worst to the rest of the attendees?" Emma's own attempts at cooking -had- lead to multiple fires. There was a reason she had servants.

Jubilee would get a light smile from Emma, "Ms. Lee. A pleasure as always. YOu'e been somewhat quieter lately. Has everything been well with your.. Duchy?" She would muse. "And how fares the.. Other lady ruler?" By which she means Noriko. What was the appropraite term for the significant other of an undead ruler that had claimed the title via diablerie?

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde flashes a grin at Ororo as she spots the inviting wave. She is definitely heading over that direction. Lockheed stays perched on her shoulder for now. Though he's craning his neck. You never know if they might be cultivating something tasty in the gardens. Beef. Or maybe eggs from an alien invasive species.

At first Kitty doesn't say anything, just observing what's going on. Though she murmurs to herself. "M. Emma... oh yeah no chance there," she says to herself with a little shake of her head.

Jubilee and Tabby get nods of greeting from young woman. "Hey, I was curious," Kitty offers when won't be interrupting anyone else. "The new retro arcade with the 80s games down in the basement. I've got all 10 of the high scores on Donkey Kong. Except I haven't knocked #9 off the list yet. It's MSSPBL. I can't for the life of me figure out who it could be. Any thoughts?"

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Jerome is more nonplussed about things like vampires and space dragons. But considering the way he was rescued and having been raised in the seedier side of Cancun. This donk has seen some shit. Jubilee just ends up getting a light boof of his head in greeting. Or possibly an attempt to coerce treats.

Lockheed gets a sort of nod that could almost be bro-worthy.

"I really should consider the cost of growing my own herbs versus the dispenserie. Street dealers are like still cheaper but that's purely because there's no sales tax. And I have been baking edibles more." she states and grins.

Brownies straight out of the oven do smell nice.

"I'll set some non special trays aside for you Emma, you can claim credit instead of the Easy Baked Oven before you. I may have an idea for something Nori might like too!" she adds to the duchess.

The wonky Donkey Kong name gets a hmm. "It's a romhack? Highscore tables usually three characters not six. Why most of everything on the machines is ASS" it's a school full of teenagers. "You didn't mess with the Dig Dug scores did you?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Though her dark Ray Bans keep them hidden from view, Jubilation's eyes narrow in Emma's direction. Her mouth closes, lips curling into a tight purse. Her arms cross against her chest. "Duchy? What's that?" Jubilee asks, though it's unclear if she's serious. A Duchess has a duchy, but... things are weird when it's not a real duchy and you're not a real duchess. And it's actually a county. Plus... vampires.

    Emma's question about another ruler goes unanswered. After all, who does she even mean? It's unclear. Jubilee leaves her answer just be her question about what a duchy is -- perhaps it might come off like a sassy response meant to deflect the question entirely. WHO KNOWS.

    "M.S.S.P.B.L. That's a whole-lotta initials..." is Jubilee's answer, then a shrug, which should hopefully be enough. Lockheed gets a nervous glance. Fire mouth. As if she's a walking monument to attention deficit, Jubilee has already begun poking and touching-that-which-should-not-be-touched -- the grow light. "So, what's this all for?" she wonders idly, having waltzed right on in uninvited but as though she owns the place.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo just shakes her head mutely and laughs at the back-and-forth. "All I ask is that you disavow the facility when and if you get arrested," Ororo tells Tabitha, and her smile turns into a flash of a bright-toothed grin.

When Jubilee gets within striking dis-- reach, Ororo offers her a set of pruning shears. "Exotic plants I'm trying to cultivate," she tells the vampire girl. "They're in need of some pruning and gentle affection. There's a lot of work to do and if I can keep them out of the cold as much as possible, so much the better."

She turns an ear to the wind and grimaces slightly. "Definitely going to be a chilly night tonight. There's a low pressure front that will pull in a lot of cold wet air from the East," she informs the others. "Not enough for snow, unfortunately," she apologizes a beat later.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would shake her head over at Katherine, Emma's lips 'tsking' but not going on any further with it. "And Ms. Smith, if you're going to engage in a bit of a side hustle on school property, at leas tmake it a class assignment so youc an take along some of the other students to showcase business initiative and untapped markets." SHe would note rather idly.

"And it looks like it's time to snip the roses." Emma, not taking a move over towards the plants or into the damp soil that they sat in, would offer to the others.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Miss Sexy Sassy Pretty Bodacious Lady that's who, duh," Noriko chimes, suddenly, before planting a kiss on Jubilation's cheek and murmuring a hello.  She squints at Tabby, but it's unclear whether she heard her name mentioned earlier or is just stink-eyeing for good measure.  It doesn't last and it isn't fully genuine anyways.

"I can help?  What's the plan?"  Noriko asks, not even bothering to wait for the objective to fully reveal itself.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde gives Tabitha a shrug. "Yeah it's six letters. And nope, I haven't gotten to Dig Dug," she says to the other young woman. Then Kitty's eyes narrow as she adds in an ominous voice, "YET."

She laces her fingers and cracks them. "Hrm," she says at Noriko's answer, flashing the young woman a grin. "That just doesn't narrow it down around here, I'm afraid. So, nobody then?" she asks as no one seems to know who it is. Kitty purses her lips in thought again. "Alright, well if you think of anyone, let me know," she says. She gives a wave and then continues on, heading across the grounds. Since the discovery of the big thing of blood in the snow, and what are believed to be two deer that were dragged off, or worse swallowed whole, she and Lockheed have been keeping an eye out. As have a few others. It appears she and Lockheed are off on another scout.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"A Duchy is something you pass on the left hand side. Puff, puff, pass!" Tabitha has to get another weed joke in. It might actually help Jubes with the whole keeping things down low on the vampire politics.

Ororo gets aplayful grin. "I have not yet been pinched for weed. Besides. It's legal and I'm twenty one. Screw the law!" she emphatically states with a nod. Jerome's head bobs too. He'd bump on Nori but he probably has enough sense to stay some safe distance from being zapped. So that means fawning at Emma now.

"Sounds like a glitch in the game Kitty. Unless..." she hmms and says it like a word. "Oh you dirty cheating..." she states and hmms. "Rogue is cheating at the game. Dick Move!" she states and chuckles. "Still dunno how." she guesses and laughs. Big Dug gets squints back at Kitty. You can almost see the letter boxing at each other like a martial arts anime. Nori gets one too but it's more with tongue poking out.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee's frown is aimed right at the pair of shears placed into her hands before she redirects it back in Emma's direction. "Oh, yeah? Is it time?" she replies, totally exaggerating and hamming up her apparent irritation from Emma calling the shots with a glass of wine instead of getting in the dirt herself. "Is it really?"

    Though speedsters can be tough to track, tough to follow, and generally tough to keep up with, sometimes two people are just in sync. And so, out of nowhere, the vampiress tilts her head a little to expose the full flesh of her cheek just in time for Noriko's kiss.

    "Oh yeah, you can help," she answers. "You can take my spot. This thing could give some of us the kind of sunburn they don't sell an ointment for..." Jubilee points her finger at the grow lamp. Though it's powered off, a simple flick of a switch could mean disaster. It also means that, perhaps, the outwardly airheaded Jubilation Lee wasn't just poking and prodding at it like a restless teenager.

    Totally expecting the faster-than-a-speeding-bullet Noriko Ashida to be ready to catch them at the right time, Jubilation throws those super sharp gardening sheers into the air.

    "Good luck with herbology class, Hermione Granger!" are Jubilee's parting words. A peace sign is flashed over her head before she slips through the slit in the plastic and back into the nightmare hearts of the horses that still have a spot in the stables.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Well, the work party will do; Ororo sits down and starts working on her plants. Her fingers work very carefully to test the potentially weakened leaves, examining their thickness as well as how healthy the leaves are. And she reaches over to show Noriko one of the leaf stems. "Here, do you feel that lump? That's like a knot in a tree," she explains. "It's choking off supply to the leaf. Prune it close to the stem itself," she suggests.

Ororo smiles and waves at Kitty as she leaves. "Be good, Kathryn!" she calls after the girl. Her attention returns to the back-and-forth between Tabitha and Emma. "Are either of you going to help me with the plants this year, or am I seeing the start of a lucrative business empire?" Does she mean now, later, never, someday...? It's hard to tell. But she doesn't seem terribly put out about Noriko being the one who leaps boldly in the the fray.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko may be fast, but she's also paying more attention to Jubes than anyone else, as per usual, and as a speedster, she's very aware of sharp objects.  Still, in the time it takes for the shears to fall, she darts to put a tarp over the grow light.  Where did she dig that out of?  Ororo probably knows.  But with epic timing, like someone about to level up, her gauntlet darts and she plucks them out of the air as if they were growing on a tree.

"What?"  Sometimes speedsters aren't that fast.  "But I already-"  She purses her lips at the slit of plastic Jubes escaped too and the wave of terrified whinnies in her wake.  "You owe me!" she finally shouts.  Though Noriko would never deny Ororo help, she /will/ cash in on pinch hitting.

Her attitude shifts slightly after she gets some instructions.  "Like that?"  She has done three of them already to the /exact/ specifications, not a millimeter more or less.  At least the speedster has learned to check before continues to speed ahead.  Perhaps she's suffered some of those consequences before.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would just shake her head over in light amusemetn as people would come and go. "How is, Noriko? I hope that all is well in coffin and tomb." Was Emma attempting to make a joke? Yes, yes she was. Was it a good one?

Probably not. "I'm sure that Ms. Smith's awareness of local competition and how to elbow them out of the business is ana sset. Part of running an enterprise is ensuring you have a monopoly and all competitors are removed from the landscape."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
There's more playful grins aimed at Ororo an a chuckle. "Jerome and I are totally helping in our own way. I've been watering the plants in your attic when missions and Africa and occasionally T'Challa had been calling you."

The plants up there certainly aren't dead.

"Plus Jerome is a contributor to the compost heaps way out back. Where else the mess gonna go after we clean the stables and put down the fresh hay!" she states.

She does actually have a treat for the donkey. A small bushell of carrots in one pocket of her jeans. Jerry is totally happy to see them.

The Carrots.

"See Jerome, this is why you're the best boi ever in those stables. Doesn't afraid of anything!" she beams and gives the donkey one of those vegetables and then a cheek rub while he chomps.

"Problem is with a product that's ilicit, new competitian is always coming up. Someone is always gonna try step on your turf, and won't replace their divots. You and Jubes probably dealing with crap like that with the local vampires Nori." How does Tabitha know golf ettiquete? Caddyshack probably. Plus there was a time she didn't telekinetically direct her powers. Girl knows spin physics and had to practive somewhere.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"I do appreciate that, Tabitha, truly I do," Ororo assures the younger woman. "The plant watering mostly; covering for me with T'challa, also," she admits with a conspiratorial sotto voce.

"You're doing perfectly there Noriko," she says, switching attention to Noriko. "It's always a difficult balance, you don't want to remove too much, but you have to nip out the tumor all the same. If it heals badly than can lead to its own issues, allowing fungii and insects to sneak into the plant's stem," she clarifies.

Judging one plant done, Ororo struggles with the heavy pot to put it back, and walks another one out to examine.

Emma Frost has posed:
As Tabitha and Ororo talk, Emma glances in the direction of Noriko, and then muses over.. "I do somewhat wonder what exactly.." Had been gnawing at those dear in the front yard. One would think that most predators tended to stay -away- from the Mansion given previous experience. So something coming towards the boundaries.. Ah well, distraction.

FInishing up her wine,s he would watch. "So, do you have any particular plans for your academic pursuits, if any for the forseeable future, Ms. Smith?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Tomb?  We're not cavewomen," Noriko rewards Emma by 'not getting' the joke.  "Honestly?  From what I gather there are just as many petty arguments among vampires as cattle farmers have...on TV," she adds, just in case her generalization via TV-ducation is incorrect, a pinch of self consciousness peeking through.  "When you find a bad one, show me," she asides to Ororo, but then-how would Ororo?  Noriko's already taken off, but she moves at a slow enough pace to be seen in blurred form, for other people's comfort.  Every once in awhile spurt, she slows down to listen.

"Tabby?  Academic?"  She stops, and looks over like a hyperactive puppy that has just noticed something shiny across the lawn, quiet, not realizing those two words came out at everyone else's velocity.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"I'm more amazed nothing drowned up there. Bet I'm not the only one busting out the squirty bottles." Tabitha considers. Everyone loves Ororo, it's practically impossible not too. Looking after her stuff on long sojourns from the school.

At least Jerome doesn't seem interested in chewing on any of the plants being grown here. Hay, oats, fruits and vegetables brought it seem to be fine for him. Harvest his own food like a sucker. Well the back lawn is nice enough when it's able to grow long enough.

In response to Emma and then Nori's reaction. "So I really need to bother with further formal like edumacations? Took me long enough to get my high school diploma. College be like ugh, what the crap could I major in anyway." she ponders.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"You can study anything you want," Ororo assures Tabitha. "Officially-- on paper, anyway-- I think all I have is a GED." The dark-skinned goddess shifts her focus to Noriko's plant and starts quietly trimming dead and stunted stalks. It's perilously difficult to keep Noriko sitting down for long, so Ororo adopts the simple countermeasure of waiting for the girl to zip back over to their location before showing her the next place to trim. That endless, unhurried nature of hers seems to lend itself well to flighty and anxious student learning styles.

"Most of my indoor plants are very hardy," Ororo assures Tabitha. "And there's a reason I leave that very small little watering can up there. Unless ten people in a row show up to water plants, they'll be fine. I can't imagine there's a great line up to the attic to tend my little corner of the mansion," she says, and her smile is sincerely abashed at the notion that she could be any trouble at all for the residents of the Mansion.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Do I /look/ like I'm attending college?"  To everyone else's credit, it's fair to assume Noriko would have time to both her job and college.  Of course Noriko doesn't care; she doesn't even care if it makes sense.  "If I knew what you should major in then I'd have a clue about what would be worth my time to study....um..."  Sounds like she might give it a shot anyways.

Clip.  Clip.  Clip.  Clip * 24.

"Well don't you figure out what you major in like...later or something?  Do you have to know right now?"  Noriko isn't exactly sure how American higher education works when it gets down to the nuts and bolts.

"No.  There isn't, because I made the cover too high...even for the smallest garden pests."  Noriko takes a break, lying on her back, resting her gauntlets on her stomach as she stares upwards.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"I'm happy with my highschool diploma. I had to really work my ass off and got it at twenty. So I skipped a couple years due to things like well. Genosha. I'm amazed I made it. I got a C average on my exames. I couldn't /see/ me getting anything better." Tabby can't help but giggle at that joke. "I'm living the dream as is. No rent and overheads, a job that pays well in tips and I don't have those overheads. I onlty get my ass groped or slapped every other week." she states and rolls her eyes. "Better than what the girls working the Hellfire Club have to put up with. The life of a waitress." she states.

"Lot of peeople never work in the fields they major in. Usually flooded markets and self employment has too many problems. And isn't that what guidance counselors were for. helping folks figure that out. At least here all I have to do is shovel donkey poop, mop floors, chop vegies, be a counter influence, and sometimes nearly die or wose for mutant survival and rights." she states.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo shrugs at Tabitha and grins. "I had to sit for my final forms too," she reminds the girl. Ororo came to Xavier's as a Cairo street orphan with no more education than one gets as a sneak-thief or pickpocket. "But it did not take me long to achieve my GED. I'm sure Jean has a list of whatever my academic success is, but at this stage in my life..." she looks around at her work, elbow deep in plant soil. "I'm quite content with what I have, and if there's something I really need to know, I go out and look it up," she says with a self-effacing shrug.

"But if you two girls do want to pursue higher education-- there's nothing stopping you," she assures them. "Education makes accessing those jobs easier, of course. It's hard to work as a therapist if your door reads 'Tabitha Smith, Person of Medicine'," she quips, and flashes a bright-toothed grin at that notable.

"Come Noriko, indulge me," she begs the other girl. "If you could go into any field you wanted, what would it be?"

Negasonic has posed:
    Negasonic Teenage Warhead, or Ellie if you are on good terms, and definitely not Eloise for anyone unless you want your next of kin to be informed, strolls in. She is probably trying to get away from under classmen and women for the moment.

    Her phone is out, as always as she types one handed, keeping only half an eye on wher she is going. So basically the usual. At hearing Storm talking though she does slow her roll to listen to her trying to encourage Tabitha and Noriko to consider higher education. This should be very interesting if she can manage to not get roped into it.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Gross Tabby," Noriko responds after the ass-grope info, in between Tabby's sentences.  "Do you really want to do that forever?"  She's always thinking about /how long/ she will have to suffer doing something.  It's practically her only currency.

"I've worked all of the jobs you can work without a degree," not true at all, but she did make her rounds at almost all of the shops down at the center.  "Yeah you're a threat to my /job/," she informs Tabitha at the end of her list with a layer of familiar, comfortable cavalierness.

"I think I just can't take all the sitting and listening.  It's exhausting.  I do enough of it already just to make friends."  Noriko has people she considers friends?  She hasn't informed them.  "Honestly I'd just want something that lets me work at my own pace," and it sounds like she believes it doesn't exist.  She's still on her back, some shears next to her as she takes a break, her gauntlets rested over her stomach and no they don't fold neatly.  She has to stagger their positions.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The blonde woman leans against her donkey who seems quite fine since it comes with head scritches. "I'd prefer not to wait tables. The harassment however, we're copping that like no matter where we go. And it's a risk we take when we gotta go out and do the hero thing with a risk of capture. Nori, It... never ends. At least here we can teach kids to be better for it. Snark is a responsibility and should only be used on real enemies. Or if it's like really funny. " she admits and actually looks down trodden. Might explain her current style of dress in flannels and jeans and a lack of neon and prite colors.

"I probably could get away with medicine woman twenty years ago. But I'm not that Jane Solitaire Chick from those Bond movies." she states. "Kinda hard to look towards your future when a giant nazi robot might step on you in Manhattan of all places." she adds.

A push of Jerome and the Donkey is soon trotting over to say hello to Ellie.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"Well, whatever you girls want to pursue-- there's a path forward for it," Ororo assures them. Perceiving that particular battle is lost, Ororo finishes up her last pruning and starts transferring the heavy pots back into the grow shed one-by-one.

"I just don't want you to ever feel like you weren't able to pursue an opportunity here." She looks up at Eloise and flashes a smile. "Hello Ellie. I'm sorry, you just missed a little botany class," she apologizes. "But it wasn't anything important, I assure you."

Negasonic has posed:
Dangit Jerome. You are totally going to out her to Storm at this rate. Ah well hell. She can't be mad at Jerome.

    Her phone is tucked away in a pocket so she doesn't lose it to inquisitive Donkey nibbles or slobber though. "Hey, no treats or anything." she warns but she will give ear and head scritches.

    She nods after Storm though "No worries, definitely not taking it personally or anything." botany isn't her ideal after all. She likes technology.

    She looks to the others after Storm is gone and archs an eyebrow.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Yeah so why invite it?  Snark can also be a form of affection."  Noriko frowns slightly, her brows drawing together.  She doesn't say anything, even if she only /now/ registers Tabby going lumberjack casual.  She squints, but Ellie walking along her peripheral causes the speedster to sit up and watch.  Will she make it?  Can Noriko pass off her own shears?

Go go Jerome!  Blow her cover!  Because Nori would never do that to Ellie even if she'd totally watch it happen.  Suddenly, Noriko has a banana she's chomping on and it keeps being rested here or there, like a banana in ragged stop-motion as she works.  Finally, her shears disappear, though she reappears where she was.  A dumb trick.  She shrugs.  "Don't look at me.  I barely have time to get shit done," HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT SHE DOESN'T.  She bears a flash of a guilty look that vanishes as quickly as it appears.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
For an adult Donkey, Jerome does seem to have picked up on some behaviors more akin to a cat. The leaning in the whole body for scritches for starters.

"She and Emma were just doing the what do you want to do with your future thing." she explains and smiles. "Comes with being a teacher. But it's kinda hard to top, blow shit up, party, and not die as an answer." she states and grins.

"Nori time is an illusion. Miller Time doubly slo." she points out butchering the Douglass Adams quote. "Being super fast yourself don't mean much when the things you need to do won't or can't go as fast. You can't just flash bake a tray of weed brownies. Too much too fast, woof. Charcoal. Well okay I can flash fry a steak, but I've had a lot of practice. My point still stands. Going at your own pace isn't always gonna work." she advises. "Stop and smell those roses. The shits less given and all that!"

Negasonic has posed:
    "I mean my answer is also blow stuff up, party, and not die." she gives the Donkey such scritches as she works over the mane and ears. Cheek rubs. "You are such a big kitty donkey" amusement.

    She looks to them both. "Are you secretly excavating an underground supervillain lair with superspeed Nori..." which is a response to not having enough time to get shit done. Like. How.

    Then she bounces her attention to Tabby. "I mean I may get ann engineering degree. I like messing with tech and hardware. I doubt I will ever get a job outside blowing bad guys up though."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Yeah.  I know.  It suucks."  But it's also sometimes awesome, but it also sucks, just like anything else.  Immortality, being emotionally invincible, none of which I am, but," shrug.  "And I'm sick of going at the pace of everything else," she says rather bluntly as if trying to connect some dots that she found obvious.  "I've been going at everyone else's pace for years and it feels like drilling into my own skull. Never done that either but I imagine it's just as excruciating but ends a lot quicker.  "When you've had to deal with a fraction of my existence you can give me life tips Tabitha-I wish.  I just-have two jobs."  Yeah, one that commutes to those dumb musical movie sets.  Regret...it settles into her features.  "And I'm practically the only one planning a damn wedding for vampires and mutants and humans.  And it's not like you can do open seating for the reception dinner...and it's like, how do you know what kind of music people who have lived forever want?"  She doesn't sound frantic.  She is expedient in her delivery as if she were complaining about stocking some shelves but she knows exactly everything she has to do.

"I've thought about something in science maybe...but I don't think I'm going to get a degree.  Takes too long.  I could learn soooo much more in the time it takes me to sit through a class trying not to drool a swimming pool.  So yeah, I owe it to myself to not imprison my mind Tabby.  Because if I do, I might end up training myself for violence instead."  Inadvertently but still!

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"I'm sure people think the school counts as the underground secret villain lair. Mutant menace and all that. But we have sexier uniforms than most spy movie villains. Those catsuits do look great." she adds and grins.

"Nori, pretty certain I'm actually older than you. You might be seeing it slower, that's all. I won't get into what I've actually experienced. So please, don't treat our lives as a dick measuring contest for trauma." she states, it's way more calm that you'd expect from Tabitha.

"You want to plan a wedding. You want to know what people want? Wedding music has nothing to do with what the guests want. It's you and Jubes' night. Fuck everyone else. It's bride time. Bride or die Nori!" she reminds.

Negasonic has posed:
    "Fuck... we aren't training to be supervillains?" she sighs remorsefully and gives the donkey a good scritch before moving over to push up and sit on something that lets her legs dangle. "I've been doing this all wrong... and my uniform is fantastic. Pragmatic, Armored for accidently running into stuff. Good times."

    "No one should compete in trauma-lympics. It's not a contest anyone can or should win." she agrees. Also Ellie probably maybe might win for those in the know at least. Bad times.

    "also yeah... and wait Jubes has vampires to invite not just your and her fams and a buncha us.. which is like fam?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Yeah I'm /not/.  It would be the most worthless exercise ever given-"  Nori gestures to the school at large as if it were patently obvious that /everyone/ has had a shit life.  "I never brought up fucking trauma-but maybe you shouldn't act like our lives are even remotely the same, maybe don't act like you know everything about me or that everything's perfect and sunshine and has a solution, or maybe?  Just fuck off," Noriko says without missing a beat.  "Sometimes people just want to vent and don't want advice."

"I'm trying to make it so everyone /survives/ the night," Nori explains with less bite.  This is, well, it isn't excusable but something that happens.  One moment Noriko is about to bite someone's head off, the next she's coming down from a flash of anger.  "But the sentiment is appreciated.  That's super easy for the human and mutant side, but like-whatever.  It doesn't matter...Yeah.  We have to invite a bunch of vampires.  It's more like just a buncha you guys and a buncha vampires.  Running short on family."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"Ellie, the armor also makes our boobs look bigger!" she states and makes a point making finger gesture. Then looks down at the front of her shirt. Untucked the flannel does actually hide the curves.

"Nori, it's making sure people you give a shit about survive. But face it, we're mutants, we'd survive. We always do. Think a vampire is ever going to manage to take out one of us? Let alone someone like Jean? I watched her disintegrate a brooded up T-Rex not long ago." she points out with a scoffing expression. "Also, fam is like what you make, sharing DNA don't make a father a dad." she states. And maybe trips on some of her daddy issues.

"In any case, I'm sure we... Actual fam here via adoptioon, or at least sharing Xavier's legal guardianship when we were kids. And Jube's minions will behave. One way or another, it'll be a fun night."

Negasonic has posed:
    "Is the enhanced cleavage really that bad?" she theorizes with amusement, kicking her feet slowly from her perched seat as she watches you both. She doesn't really think so, but she says it with a joking snarky sort of air. Basically her usual tone.

    "I reserve the right to blow up any vampires that try to do an unwanted fanging. Self defense and all." she doesn't seem to think this is controversal or threatening.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Never mind," Noriko mutters with a roll of her eyes.  "Yeah I'm not leaving that shit to chance.  One of those jerks messed with the /Danger Room/ sims.  Forgive me if I'm not leaving the lives of family and friends to chance.  And the goal is to /not/ start a war."  Yeah, Noriko doesn't have the best self-control and she keeps talking about it. "-Tabs what the hell are you wearing?" she finally asks, her brain bouncing back to that as if it's been a thorn in her brain wrinkles all this time.

"I guess that means Ororo is giving me away," Noriko says with a little laugh.  She flashes a smirk to Ellie.  "Oh you'll get hand stamps for every one you kill if the fight breaks out.  I'm making a list."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"You should see my sports bras then. Ouch! And Ellie... You have the right to detonate anyone that tries shit you don't want. You blast them, walk off like a badass. And if someone dies. Fuck them they had it coming. Species doesn't matter, vampire, human, mutant." Tabby getting a lot more hardcore in her violent encouragement.

The baby butch look gets abother look down. "I was on stable duties." Which is not a good excuse. She's worked in skimpier tops and cut offs.

"Even I get kinda tired on the eyes on me. Or the hands." she states. Last few times she has dressed in flannel, has usually been after people have tried putting hands on the blonde. And nearly succeeding.

"It... never ends," she states and sounds like she's more pissed at herself.

"Ororo, gonna love that! " she perks at more happy nuptuals stuff. "So is there a prize for most piles of ash? I'm not sweeping floors by the way! I'll wear a bridesmaid dress, I'll usher people to their seats. I'll even do the chicken dance. But sweeping dead people is a nope!"