17273/Howard the X-Duck

Howard the X-Duck
Date of Scene:	02 March 2024
Location:	Ops Room
Synopsis:	the X-Men have a sit down chat with a friendly feathered fowl from a far flung world of Ducks, and Duck related things.
Cast of Characters:	Rogue, Scott Summers, Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde, Jean Grey, Jubilation Lee
Tinyplot:	Hunger

---

Rogue has posed:
A rather unexpected arrival had taken place on a quiet night at Xaviers School. A mysterious pod had been found a few miles north of the school, retrieved from a popular hiking spot where teenagers like to go to smoke weed and smooch each other. Rogue had been called out to check on something strange seen crashed alongside a small waterfall, and after bringing it back to the school, and delivering it down in to the Blackbird hangar through the basketball court portal, the trio of Rogue, Cyclops and Phoenix witnessed the pod opening itself up, and a strange creature emerging from within.

With a fedora on, no less.

A call had gone out for any available team members to come down to the X-Men Ops Center to check-in on this development, as there have been a number of increases in alien activity taking place around the globe, specifically at the Atlantic Starport where an entire convoy of alien refugees had landed, and publicly asked for a place to claim asylum. Needless to say, aliens are a big talking point on all the news outlets, both online and on the television. All manner of people giving their thoughts on what Earth, and its inhabitants, have as a responsibility to the woes of intergalactic visitors, now that such visitors have become rapidly common place.

In the moment, the Ops Center is the point of meeting, with a few of the X-Men having already arrived, and the guest of honor himself poised near the front of the room, where a selection of snacks and drinks have been laid out.

Rogue has a cup of sweet tea, and a donut, dressed in her green and gold uniform, with her jacket up over her shoulders, and a look of calm resolution at her life ever being far weirder than she would like it to be.

Professor Xavier has just arrived, as well, and is stationed not far from where the new arrival is, as everyone waits for the rest of the team to show up, and settle in for this.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott has taken up a place back and to the left from the Professor. He's still wearing his work out clothes, having been in the middle of a run when Rogue came flying over the trees with the space pod. His arms are crossed over his chest, his head tilted forward slightly with a look of careful and silent scrutiny.

Howard, for his part, seems more flustered than nervous. He sits on one of the chairs laid out for him, his webbed feet too short to reach the ground and so they dangle almost comically in the air. He's removed his hat, clutching it in his hands. To get a better look at him, he's wearing a brown suit that looks several decades out of date. But then, who knows what fashions lurk in the heart of Duckworld.

"Soooo," he begins, in old New York accented English, " ... how's everybody doin'?"

Emma Frost has posed:
This has been somewhat unusual even by the standards of Xavier's. Which has had Emma present. At least to head off Logan if the man is going to show up. Emma has a strong sense that she's gonig to need to have his stash of booze for whatever this is. All she caught wind of was.. Duckworld. And she's already trying to nurse away her sobriety with a large, for once not expensive bottle and several shot glasses along with her.

She goes to send to Jean and Scott <<Can you please summarize what exactly it is that we have so far?>> They were the ones present for it after all. And the duck speaks English. That's not exactly a surprise anymore. It makes things easier. Emma goes to rub at her temples. And probably for the best it has on pants.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde was up greeting a new student who had enrolled in the college classes, when the call for members of the X-men to report to the Ops Center. Kitty rides the elevator down and then walks the futuristic looking, gleaming hallways to the room, Lockheed riding on her shoulder as he was when she was out in the garden.

She walks in, not really knowing what to expect, and so not expecting anything quite in particular. A briefing or a mission or the norm.

She gets a sight of their duckly visitor. Definitely not what she was expecting. Her eyes go over to the Professor and Scott and Rogue. A quick glance at Emma, then back to the... duck. If that's a costume it's very well done.

"So," Kitty says as she moves into the room, not knowing she's repeating Scott more or less. Kitty grabs a filled donut and a bottle of water and takes a seat. "Normal sort of day then, is it?" she asks.

Jean Grey has posed:
Anywhere else, an alien crash landing in the back yard would be a shocking event. At Xaviers, for Headmistress Grey... it's an average day of the week ending in y.

Which isn't to say that one can be blase about things like this. Instead, it speaks to a degree of experience, to the repetition of actions to the point where habits and procedures form. While everyone important was still being informed and gathered, Jean's first stop (with the then still TK bubble-wrapped Duck-man) was to the medical bay next door. There's a whole range of basic scans and quarantine procedures to go through to make sure that this whole thing isn't an immediate danger to those who might join her in making contact, or to the school more broadly.

But in the end (and no doubt following a good deal of complaining and probably some inappropriate remarks about 'playing doctor,'), she was able to give their guest a relatively clean bill (yes we'll be doing duck puns all night) of health.

---

Now, it's not much later. After escorting Howard to the conference room with Scott, Jean vanished for a little while. No doubt she's been relaying everything to Xavier telepathically, so that he's caught up on everything by the time the meeting starts. It's perhaps not a huge surprise that his daughter wanted to come along, too. She still doesn't talk a lot, so perhaps most of her opinions on their visitor are confined to the heads of those three.

After that, and having had a bit of a time to get to know 'Mr. Duck,' she's happy to address him in return when he speaks to them. "I think we're all probably a bit surprised to have a guest. Not our first from off-world, admittedly. If you... are from off-world? Maybe you can explain that first. Because you sound like the guy who I used to buy coffee from before class at ESU." She makes a small, circular gesture. "How you got here, how it relates to the other off-world visitors we've been getting recently, and so on? Do you want anything, by the way? We have coffee, tea, snacks-"

To Emma: <<Not really very much. Rogue found the pod, and I took him to medical while everyone else was being called. Outwardly, he seems fairly harmless.>>

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "So, you guys found him up there in Lover's Lane...." Jubilation's voice travels easily, as she's making absolutely no effort to keep it down. She walks into the room she's never been inside before as though she owns the place. "...But, like, what were /you/ doing there?" Her fingers travel along the different metallic surfaces and buttons as she makes her way for the table that was laid out with refreshments. While the others have already gotten started with their questions, Jubilee remains distracted by the snacks and things. She rolls her eyes a little at what she doesn't find and comes back empty handed.

    Jubilation finds a place to sit, choosing one of the cushy chairs near the anthropomorphic duck. The rustling of paper can be heard as the girl finds the gum she'll be chewing tonight and pops it into her mouth. After a few obnoxious chews, she blows a bubble and lets it pop. "I'm Jubilee," she says, leaning forward with a fist for the duck to bump. The others get a disapproving squint. Not even a name?

    "And let me be the first to thank you for not Donald Ducking it with your outfit selection, tonight."

Rogue has posed:
The Professor allows the others to answer Emma's question, as his focus is on that of Howard in the mean time. He shows the guest a warm expression, and lets his eyes roam over the members of the team who are arriving. "Ah, yes. Come in, everyone. This is quite an unexpected event, but a delight all the same." He motions toward everyone filtering in the room, for Howard's benefit. "These are a handful of the members of my team of... reliable friends. We go by the name of the 'X-Men', and do our part to lessen the burden of troubles around the world, with regard to our kind... being that of Mutants. I'd say, of all the possible locations that you could have ended up, you managed a rather desirable location. We'll do our best to welcome you to our home, and help you achieve what you need to settle in. But.." He nods toward Jean, "I am sure we might test your patience with a number of questions in the mean time."

Rogue bites her donut, sips her tea, eyes the Duck, then offers a nod toward Kitty and her dragon. She glances back toward the Professor, toward Jean, Scott, and then the duck again. "Are there any other pods we should know about just layin' around out there?" The Belle asks, before her donut is nibbled again, and her eyes dart over to Jubilee, who gets a small smirk on the Mississippi native's face.

Scott Summers has posed:
"X-Men, huh? Sounds edgy, but a pain in the tailfeathers when it comes to findin' ya in the phonebook. My ol' sensei'd say that's a cosmic balance."

When Jean asks her questions, the yellow feathers about Howard's eyes flutter as his brow creases.

"What do you mean? If you think I'm puttin' this on, lady, you're wrong. This is a perfectly respectable New Stork accent ... Duckhattan, in particulars. An' as far as I know, I was havin' a nap on my couch an' woke up in your cockamamie pod. You aliens? You abductin' me? This ain't Duckworld, is it?"

He seems a bit put off, until Jubilee holds out her fist and he returns the fist bump. A little more relaxed now, he introduces himself in turn: "Howard Duckson, P. I. An' I don't suppose you've got a stogie layin' around here somewhere?"

After a moment, he murmurs under his breath: "What the $@#! is a Donald Duck?"

Emma Frost has posed:
There's that headache she knew was coming. Full force. Beyond that which immense consumption of alcohol could head off. Emma Frost puts her fingers to her temples over while breathing in nad out. <<Well, I say he's SHIELD's business and we pass him along to the starport.>> That's shared with the rest of those present telepathically. What's next, they'll find out he's with the Amazing Zoo Crew? Or Marvel Apes? Emma keeps her fingers massaging her temples and then sends to Kitty <<Katherine, do be a dear and tell me where Logan hides his stronger things. I think I'm in desperate need of some alcohol poisoning when we're done>>

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde stays silent at first, watching as the others talk to Howard. She looks back over to Rogue, sending her a nod back, while Lockheed gives a tiny flap of his wings. While Jubilee is developing a rapport, Kitty takes advantage of the moment to get a bite or two of her donut since she hasn't had dinner yet.

Wiping her fingers and lips, Kitty is about to say something when Howard mentions waking up in the pod unexpectedly. "So I guess my question about what ship you came in on, what happened to it that you came down in a pod, ends up being moot," she says. Though she says it anyway, knowing if he's lying it, that just mentioning those events might call them into his mind where Jean or the Professor might pick them up, if his mind is readable by them.

<<Hopefully his species doesn't lay eggs in people. Have had enough of that for a lifetime,>> she sends to the rest of the team. At the question from Emma, sends back what she knows of where Logan's booze can be found.

Jean Grey has posed:
Although there's plenty else going on to focus on, Jean DOES make note of Jubilee's appearance. "Nice to have you joining us, Miss Lee." Rub it in, why doncha?!

After whatever initial responsibilities, she takes her own detour to pour herself a coffee, since this definitely has the makings of being 'one of those nights.' Rogue she answers with more casual familiarity, while in that process. "We weren't able to find anything else on our alarms or sensors, as far as the property goes. But I'll ask Logan and James to do more careful searches, just in case."

"I think it's just him. Well, as far as things go locally." With her coffee in hand, she goes to tap a button on a control panel, activating a number of the video screens in the room and setting them to a variety of TV news channels reporting on the situation at the Starport, along with political commentary from around the world. "Because this isn't reallly local to us."

However, the answer their visitor gives doesn't exactly seem what she expected.

"Duckworld? No, we call it Earth. Manhattan. Not that the 'man' there is really... nevermind." Jean shakes her head. "I'm not sure if this is more of an alternate dimension situation then, we've encountered those before as well. It just seems like an odd coincidence when we have a large number of alien ships ALSO visiting, right now."

In a case like this, Jean's telepathy largely serves as a way of having conversations in plain view... that don't include their guest. So everyone gets looped in besides Howard. <<Immediately after I took him to medical, I informed SHIELD and spoke with Diana, as she has authority at the Starport. But neither had much to add beyond what we've been seeing on the news. Lots of aliens, from many places, all traveling here together. Doesn't really match with his story, at all.>> She smiles at Kitty's addition. <<Fortunately, he really does seem harmless.>>

Well, maybe not completely harmless, as Jean cuts in to remind their guest: "This is a school. So smoking is prohibited in most areas. However, if you end up staying long, I'll have our resident cigar-scented Canadian show you around his spots."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Howard," Jubilation repeats, disappointed her guess ('quack') was wrong. They have his name. Progress.

    Vampires have exceptional hearing, finely tuned to pick up on the sounds of their prey -- people, mostly -- but Jubilee is using hers to listen to the private mutterings of a talking duck from another world. Jubilation's eyebrows rise in initial surprise that Howard doesn't know Donald Duck. "Oh, he's a carto----" Jubilee stops herself right there, course correcting. "...a /celebrity/.... like, a /movie star/ but, like, he never wears pants. Like, ever." She waggles her index finger at Howard's covered waist. "...He just lets it air out all the time." Jubilation blows another bubble with her gum to give herself some time to think of her next move. For some reason, she's being given time to speak to the alien by the more experienced, more mature adults in the room. The /Professor/ is here. He introduced them all as the X-Men and didn't add 'except Jubilee' to it. It would be best not to blow it by being the reason their visitor leaves thinking that Donald Duck is a porn star.

    Jubilee meets Rogue's smirk with a pair of hiked eyebrows, as if to acknowledge that she's talking to an alien duck and has no idea what she's doing. Is this how she learns that adults are also just winging it all the time?

    Jubilation's head swivels to grin back at Jean, even extending both arms out to her sides, as though silently saying TA-DA, I'm here! When there's a moment to chime in again, Jubilation leans forward, seemingly excited to share details about the cigar-scented Canadian. "She means Logan. We're BFF's. Judging from your accent, you're gonna like him a lot," she says, just letting the first thing that comes to mind come out of her mouth. "You want some gum, though? I've got Bananaraz and That Ain't Cherry." In a little display of supernatural undead dexterity, there are two sticks of gum in her hand and held out for Howard to choose from. "It's probably pretty weird finding out there's a whole different world under your couch cushion," Jubilation points out, shrugging her shoulder. While the others are keen to ask questions, Jubilee charts her own path.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue pushes off of the wall that she was leaned up against, her right foot dropping down to the polished metal floor. She walks with a slight sassy swagger to her hips as she reaches one of the meeting table chairs, using her right hip to push the chair around, swiveling it to accomodate her arrival. Lowering down on to the chair, the Belle leans back, her legs crossing at the knees, as she sets her tea cup down on the table, and reaches across to the center to grab a napkin off the edge of the snacks tray.

"I was listenin to some Youtube Shorts the other day, and this kind scientist guy - who always sounds like he's smilin at ya - was goin' on about how the universe is so big, that there are exact copies'a all'a us out there, an entire world where we're doing the same thing that we're doin' now. Is that the same thing as a 'multi verse'?" She asks. "Or is that somethin' else? Like where Rachel came from, or Hope and her weirdo father?" Who is she asking? She doesn't even know. With the napkin in hand, she dabs at her lips after enjoying the donut, then reaches for her tea cup again.

The Professor just smiles softly at Howard. "I assure you, we did not kidnap you, Howard." He states in a rather warm tone of his transatlantic accented English. "And to be quite forthright with you, several of us here are capable of... rather extraordinary things. One such thing, is that we have the ability to peer inside of one's mind, to see their thoughts inside of our own heads. If you'd be comfortable with this, we could get to the bottom of some of these questions much quicker. It is entirely painless, and something we only do with the utmost of trust that we will not delve in to places that you might not want us too."

The Professor glances to the others, and nods once toward Jubilee. "Should you get the chance to introduce Howard to others, such as Logan, I'd be quite grateful for your social skills, Miss Lee."

Scott Summers has posed:
<<As far as I'm aware,>> Scott answers through the telepathic link, his mental voice stern, <<We're not in the habit of just handing vulnerable people over to the government because they seem like too much trouble. Mutant or not, he was in that pod for a reason and I'm not willing to hand him over to anyone until I know why. They know about him, and that's all we're giving them for now.>>

From where he stands, Scott remains entirely silent though there is a definite look of displeasure in the frown forming on his face. His fingers flex slightly against his biceps, giving the faintest approving nod as Jubilee gets social with their Duckworldian guest.

Howard, in the meantime, looks to Kitty and just shakes his feathery yellow head: "I don't know what you're talkin' about, ma'am. I just went to sleep in my apartment, had the weirdest dream about everythin' goin' dark all across the universe, and then it was all misty and yer Gal Friday there was cussin' at me." He gestures at Rogue as he says the last bit.

"Well, like I said, I ain't lyin' to you. If you wanna go lookin' around inside my melon, have at it, buddy." Permission!

Jean's explanation of, well, everything causes Howard to sag noticably. It's not every day you're informed that not only are you not on your home planet anymore, but you're possibly not even in your home dimension. He crumples his hat nervously. When Jubilee describes Donald Duck, he blinks those ruddy eyes of his at her a few times. He nods in response to the gum offer, holding out a feathered hand.

"Y'know, I had an uncle like that once but then he moved to Brunei."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would rub at her temples <<Oh, Scott, I'd hardly call this a vulnerable person.>> A vulnerable /duck/ on theother hand.. Well.. Howard didn't exactly seem the type when it came to being vulnerable. Possibly a danger to himself and those around him.. And making sure to not have a poke around HOward's head over when the invitation was made. That for once she was leaving to Jean!

The exchange done by Kitty gets a mental prong of appreciation from Emma and a promise of a significant donation to be made to Kitty's swiss bank account later on. At the explanation of 'not home dimension' Kitty would hear Emma muttering 'what next, magical ponies'?

Kitty Pryde has posed:
"We could probably get word out to some friends to see if they have heard of Duckworld before," Kitty says. "Though the nature of it sounds like another dimension that is similar to ours but differs in some ways, might be more likely," she says. "Already there's so much similarity. The names of places. The fact that Howard speaks English without any kind of universal translator obvious," she points out the more obvious ones.

As the Professor and Howard talk about plumbing his mind to try to get answers, Kitty falls silent. She gets up and goes over to grab another donut, and also gets a cheese Danish for Lockheed.

Jean Grey has posed:
As the others share a little over Jean's telepathic link, another less familiar mental voice speak up abruptly: <<It should be noted that no 'Duckworld' is recorded on the Shi'ar charts.>>

This is Xandra, who remains near her father as he speaks, although she is now staring at Howard rather intently. <<However, there are regrettably yet many worlds beyond our influence->> Regrettably?! <<-so this is not conclusive in and of itself.>>

Separately, Jean continues. <<No, Scott. But we're also a school. Registered with the New York Board of Ed, nationally accredited, you name it. We can't ignore the rules everyone else follows just because we don't feel like it.>> This is Jean instinctively playing mom to all 'her' students, first. <<But if it comes to finding him a new home, Diana and her people are basically offering the alien refugees asylum,>> with or without approval from the various world governments! <<So we can send him to her, if it comes to that. Her moral code puts even the Professor to shame.>> She adds a love-infused <<Sorry!>> toward Charles in the last, since he's in on all of this!

Admist all the chatter, she pauses to take a long drink of coffee, before offerimg Howard a sympathetic smile. "I can't say I'm sure what it is." She gestures to Rogue, going on about her youtubes on one hand, but their very practical experiences with other realities on the other. "We've encountered things -like- this, but not exactly like it. But the good news, at least, is that... well, you ended up with us rather than the 'angry bees dimension.' If we can help you, we will. Or try and put you in touch with people who can."

As for scanning him? Well, obviously she's curious, but with Charles here, she defers to let him 'lead the way,' only piggybacking along after that.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Uh, Bananaraz might be a little too much too soon. Here's That Ain't Cherry. P.S., it /totally/ is," Jubilee stage-whispers to Howard as she places one of the pieces of gum into his feathery hand and tucks the other one in the elastic waistband of her shorts. Jubilation falls silent, content to sit there for the moment, as friends do, and enjoy a nice chew...but the thought of having a perpetually pantsless uncle draws out a little cackle from Jubilee. She leans into the back of her chair and laughs, hamming it up a little by kicking one leg into the air. It's like they're at a sleepover and Howard just admitted to having a crush on Hambone. Or Emma.

    If there's one person who can manage to squeeze the seriousness out of Jubilation, it's the Professor. When he addresses her, asking her to introduce Howard around, Jubilation gives him her full attention, both eyebrows perked. "Me? Really?" she questions. "...Yeah, yeah, sure. Of course." Jubes turns to look at Howard again, almost expecting him to be happy for her even though they just met. She just got what could be considered her first mission.

    "You hear that, Howard?!" Jubilee announces. She hops to her feet and throws one arm into the air. "We're gonna have a /blast/! You're gonna be like 'Duckworld, what's that?'" Jubilation's voice trails off as she looks around, sensing that she's gone too far. Her gaze lands on the Professor. "I mean...." she says, stifling herself down to a normal level of enthusiasm. "...I will introduce Mister Duckson to a select group of pre-approved ...uh...liasons." She winces, knowing that wasn't quite right as she excuses herself to the snack table she already knows doesn't have what she needs.

    If Howard were to look over at her before his brain dump, he'd see Jubilee throwing the rocker devil horns gesture in his direction with a big grin on her face!

Rogue has posed:
"I'm just sayin'," Rogue continues, to whoever. "If the universe is that damn big, big enough to have copies of ourselves out there, with minute variations... maybe those variations eventually reach a point where there is a planet with... what did ya say, Sugah? Duckhattan? Maybe we're just as weird to them, under the same kinda rules." Her tea cup is raised up to her red painted lips, where she samples another sip of her drink. When she lowers the cup again, she smiles at Jubilee's reaction to being given an assignment by the Professor. "Don't take him t'any'a those fancy restaurants that serve, you know what..." She warns the jubilant one.

Charles shows a soft smile toward Jubilee, before he regards Jean. "Jean, if you could contact the Justice League, and let them know about our Guest... Perhaps see if any of their experienced interstellar adventures have lead them to any knowledge regarding a... 'Duck World', that would be quite wonderful." He states, before he glances back in Scott's general direction, since Cyclops stands behind his shoulder. "Scott. If you could likewise, extend a curious hand toward the Avengers, and Carol Danvers... if anyone would know, I believe she is likely the most well traveled of all of our species."

The Professor keeps his eyes on Howard then, as he keeps a light smile visible upon his face. "I'll take just a small peek inside your mind, Howard, to see if I can find any useful information on how you got here, or how we might resolve the mystery that lies there-in..."

Charles seem to go a bit distant then, as he sits back within the head chair of the meeting table, his eyes closed, but only slightly-so.

"Additionally," Rogue starts again. "If he is from a world we can visit... I might actually be game t'see this one. It just kinda sounds fun as heck t'me." She states, having grabbed another donut, and torn a piece off to wave it around until Lockheed stares at her, which earns her then flicking it toward the dragon's snout, to get him to snatch it out of the air, as old tricks die hard between the two.

Scott Summers has posed:
<<Excuse me if I keep my own definition of a person, Ms. Frost,>> Scott's tone is as icy as the telepath's namesake. It takes practice to get that across in a telepathic sense. Good thing he has learned from the best.

Behind his ruby quartz glasses, his eyes flicker to Jean's: <<You're right, but where in our charter does it talk about the spaceships we keep under the basketball court? Let's just keep him here for now. There's still too much to work out before we set him up with a permanent residence and a day job.>> Charle's request garners only an affirmative nod from him.

Digging into the insides of Howard's mind, it's easy to affirm what he's saying. Duckworld and all he knows about it does look very much like a parallel version of Earth, but where birds of different kinds are the dominant species. Ducks milling up and down the streets of Duckhattan. Ducks working nine to five jobs. A young duck woman shaking her moneymaker for singles (sorry, Charles). It's all there.

But going a little deeper, beyond the veneer, there's things that seem blocked. Memories that Howard must have had at one point but have somehow been buried away. They show him waking up in his apartment to what looks like a tear in the fabric himself.

Another shows him on a strange world suspended in the darkness of space and the ruins of what look like a dozen different civilizations half-buried in the dust around him.

Then, a figure with pale white hair and lavish robes smirks down at him from above as he is closed within something. Everything goes dark. Both an eternity and a mere second seem to pass at the same pace, and then it's an hour ago and he's waking up to the curious faces of Jean, Rogue, and Scott.

Howard, for his part, isn't much aware of what's going on with the telepath exploring his brain. So he instead chews gum and nods approvingly to Jubilee. Of all the weird hairless non-ducks he's met so far, this one seems the least interested in disecting him. Oh Howard, you fool!

Jean Grey has posed:
<<We keep the SPACE ship at the SPACE port,>> Jean chides Scott, a little playfully. <<But you're right that there's no rush, assuming no one makes a fuss. Given the scale of everything going on, I don't suspect anyone actually will.>> It says something about the state of the world where 'extradimensional duck' is a low-priority item...

Then, the scan!

"Well... that was, a lot," is the first thing Jean says, when the vision of Howard's memory fades. She says it aloud, too, perhaps leaving the poor duck wondering what horrors they've uncovered from his own mind, without him even knowing. She glances reflexively toward Charles, and then back at their guest. His blissful ignorance may be a blessing, in this case.

Pausing a moment, Jean closes her eyes, to relay a much more condensed version of some of that to the rest of the gathered team. More of a simple slideshow than the full experience, frozen flashes that are enough of them to get a general idea... and a glimpse at the strange robed figure, whatever role it has in the whole thing.

Then she turns to Charles and gives him a quick nod. "I figure Diana can handle that too, or the Green Lantern." She looks down at her coffee. "Well. Among everything else going on. I helped them with some incident in deep space, and I have no idea how any of it is really related- to what's happening with the alien flotilla, to our visitor. It's just hard to say."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee stares down at the pastries on display on the table. She reaches out for one but hesitates. Given what little she knows about Howard and what little she remembers about donuts, Jubes decides that Howard would want a jelly donut. Her walk back is briefly interrupted by telepaths. Jubilation squints one eye and waves her hand in the air, as though she's shooing away a fly, as Jean forces her to experience the images lifted from Howard's brain. As a dead body, it's already unnatural for her to have thoughts of her own, let alone the thoughts of someone else. "Come on, quit it!" she can be heard protesting.

    "Sorry we don't have any cigars, but this is bad for you, too," Jubilation offers hopefully, ready to plop the jelly donut into their guest's feathery hand. In her mind, hardboiled detectives prefer jelly donuts over other kinds.

    "So, are you like, a good kind of detective, like, helping dames who have nowhere else to go?" Jubilee wonders. "Or...like...the kind that takes photos of people having affairs and then, like, go home and develop them yourself in your bathroom?" She looks over at the rest of the group, not quite sure what she ought to be doing while they have their little pow-wow in the brain space. She reclaims her seat, choosing now to sit with both legs draped over one of the arms.

Rogue has posed:
The Professor shares a look with Jean, before he sits up in his chair, and offers a slight tug to his suit jacket to straighten it just a little more than it already was. "Emma. Kitty." Charles starts. "Could you gather up a team of our best technically minded, and do a pass over on Howard's arrival pod? See if you can find any valuable insight in to where it came from, or any information it might be holding within its construct? Emma, make sure to monitor it with your mind... as some vessels from space have been known to hold their own conscious resonance."Xandra. Would you please accompany Miss Lee on showing Howard to the guest rooms here within the X-Men base? I believe the room beside Iara's is vacant, and... perhaps make sure to check and ensure Iara is still on vacation in South America?" Probably wise not to put a duck beside a shark's tank.

"Rogue." The Professor says, causing the Belle to stop her flirting with the purple dragon by tossing bits of donut at him. "Put together a gift basket, and take it over to the Hoover residence. Let them know that we found a missing vehicle at the campsites, and that there is nothing to be alarmed about."

To Howard, Charles smiles again. "We'll get to the bottom of this, I assure you, Howard. We will do everything in our power to help you find your way home, as most of us here know how important it is to have the support of our home lives."

Charles moves to stand up then, glancing toward Scott and Jean, with the clear indication he wants to speak with the both of them, likely in regards to what they'd just seen.