17578/HUNGER: Fetch Quest

HUNGER: Fetch Quest
Date of Scene:	06 April 2024
Location:	First World, HD 140283, Milky Way Galaxy
Synopsis:	The X-Men visit the First World in orbit around one of the Universe's oldest stars and uncover a mysterious terror even the eldest beings dare not speak of.
Cast of Characters:	Scott Summers, Emma Frost, Henry McCoy, Tabitha Smith, Rogue, Patty Sloan, Noriko Ashida, Jean Grey, Bishop

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Scott Summers has posed:
" ... return with my prize ... "

Taneleer Tivan's words still ring in the ears of the X-Men. The cosmic entity otherwise known as 'the Collector' had given the team coordinates to some far off darkness in the yawning gulf between stars. It could not be found on any stellar map they had access to through their Shi'ar contacts, and the jump would lead them further from their home than they had ever been.

    Take me to the docks, there is
    a ship without a name there
    and it is sailing to the middle of the sea ...

Scott Summers, in a rare stroke of luck for the world's most taciturn man, has the aux cable and the acoustic melodies of 'Atlas Hands' play through the speakers of the larger Blackbird designed for space travel.

There's not much of a briefing this time. Nobody has any idea what to expect, except for ruins said to be incredibly ancient. There is something there that the Collector wants. Something he said they'd know when they saw.

The trip may be one of the longest they have ever taken aboard the spacefaring Blackbird, and quite an experience for those not used to the cosmic voyages the X-Men have found themselves on in recent times.

"We're a minute out," Scott calls out through the vessel, leaning to press a finger to the intercom circuit to make sure he's heard by anyone who may be canoodling in the cargo hold, "Get your suits on."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma has taken a suit with her, but has moved to shift to diamond form. It's not that she doesn't trust the.. Whatever sort of quite likely eldritch being that they made a deal with.. It's more like she doesn't completely trust him in the slightest and is expecting this to be them being put through a game for the appeal of a mass audience, just like Mojo. So wearing the exposure suit, but still in her full diamond form, and a headset on given her inability to communicate with the team telepathically otherwise, she would keep her hands folded together.

"So, has our ever so lovely tour guide given us any more specifics as to what to expect to get? Or let me guess, he hasn't the slightest idea either what it is?"

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry McCoy secured his helm with a twist, pressurizing his suit finally with the seal now intact. With this done he could turn and help others dress, and he did so by verifying readouts and diagnostics, and calling the vital metrics for the entire, those connected into the network at any rate, onto his heads up display. "Looking good, X-men." he said in his calming and confident baritone.

"Those of you with PoV camera's please turn them on."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Reception in space is terrible. Thankfully she had the foresight to download her playlists ahead of time. Not that she was listening to any of it as the ship finally managed to get close enough then can actually call it an approach.

Handy because spacesuits take some work. Even the funky skintight ones that look like X-Suits using some of that nifty Shi'ar tech. Pink and yellow down the sides, padding at the spots that might need padding if someone took a bump. The helmet doesn't go on yet, but that can happen later.

"So anyone ever get the feeling he gave us a load of space poop and he's already planning to swipe Howard The Duck..." you gotta say the whole thing. "While we're out here looking for a wild goose instead. I call water foul!"

Rogue has posed:
It was no secret that Rogue hated space. However, there were ways to make her like it more, and one such way was to present her with quality clothing, that made her enjoy the experience of being in space more by way of making her express 'Je suis belle.'

Case in point, when discussing possible new space stylings with Kitty, Rogue had put in a request for a new suit to accentuate her form whilst far from home. Thus, when she steps out of the crew area on the starboard side of the ship, Anna-marie is clad from head to toe in a form fit number of green and yellow like her standard uniform back home, however this time it is designed after a character from one of Kitty's favorite games. Miranda Lawson, Mass Effect. High collared, heeled boots, smooth lines, and slim fit, to say the least. Where Miranda's uniform had black hues, Rogue's has dark green. Where Miranda's had white patchwork, Rogue's has sun-hued yellow, and with a red X-comm badge mounted on the left side of her chest, she fit in with standard team styles.

She emerges in to the main section of the X-Bird, her gloved hands tying back her chestnut hair in to a bunn on the nape of her neck, the Belle just stares at the cockpit, and everyone chatting about what is to come, as she remains quietly focus on just 'being' for now.

After finishing the tie-back of her dark hair, her white bangs frame her face, and her hands drop with a smack against the grid-work pattern that covers her hips. She huffs indignantly, a bit of cabin fever settling inside the Mississippi girl.

Patty Sloan has posed:
Patty had no clue what to expect other than it being a field trip outside the school. That alone was exciting. She really didn't expect to wind up in space of all places. A few times along the trip she had used her abilities to make sure they still worked off of the Earth. Thankfully they do.

The girl learned from the last mission she accidentally stumbled on and got dressed for the occasion. She is wearing a black long sleeve top and a pair of black jeans. She is even wearing a pair of black boots to put the outfit together. Before she started out on the trip, she cut holes for her wings in the top. It took a little time but she got her wings through the slits in her top and she was ready to go.

Now however she needs to get into a suit. How was she going to get into a suit without her wings being crushed? Problem number one of the day. She quickly puts the student suit on. Of all the things she had thought She never thought she would ever be wearing a space suit. Still she got it on and quickly fastens her helmet. "A duck?" She asks. "We are doing all of this for a Duck?" She doesn't know Howard. She only knows what a duck is and not the alien variety.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko has been oddly quiet the whole trip thus far, finding it nice to just relax in her own frame of velocity while they hurtle along.  Spaaaace.  Space.  She's in space!  She brought along a large battery cell, but that stays with the Blackbird.  She doesn't suit up fully till Scott gives the warning.  There's a staccato to how she suits up, and her suit has special accommodations for her gauntlets.  It means she has to wear a tight gasket enclosure inside her gauntlet but hey, it worked!  Nori won't die and hasn't sparked out once!

Who knows why she's here, but Noriko's been known to pinch hit and help out here and there.  When she spots Patty, she mouths an 'oh' to herself right after the click of her helmet.  "Beats me," she says through her helmet com with a shrug to Patty.

Jean Grey has posed:
This time, Jean's not at either of the piloting positions. It's good to take turns driving when you're on a long road trip, and given the length of this one, she's taken her time off where she can get it. The SR-X is a lot larger and more comfortably appointed than it's namesake, sharing the spirit of its design but few of the actual parameters. So she's been in her bunk up until a bit ahead of their arrival.

Now, much like most of the team, she's suiting up, making the last necessary checks on her own suit. She's always thorouugh with her gear, even if in practice she may not actually need it. Reminders, anchors.

Once she does have everything set, she does amble up toward the front, taking a glance at the console over Scott's shoulder. The weird orb that the Collector gave her at the end of their last meeting is set into a little recess there. How it works in terms of the whole navigation process is still a mystery, so there's little certainty about any of this. Still, after that last look, she turns back and joins the others where they're gathering.

"Maybe, but I don't think so," she answers Tabitha. "Not that I have much to base it on, but the guy struck me as, well... I don't want to say -honest- exactly, but as someone who takes this kind of thing seriously. If there's something we can actually bring him, that for whatever reason he can't access... I think that would be worth it. And the scenario isn't that far fetched. Powerful cosmic beings end up with equally powerful enemies."

She wouldn't know anything about that!

After this, it's helmet on. She taps a control to see if she can get the camera working for Hank. "You getting me?"

Scott Summers has posed:
"The Collector's more than a strange old man gathering trinkets," Scott says to Tabitha with a curt shake of his head, "If he comes at us again, we'll be prepared for it. But if we can prevent an all-out fight with him, we owe it to ourselves and Howard to try."

Scott's own suit is not as flashy nor colorful as the other members of the team. Even the student suit - made with Angel in mind some years back and accomodating of wings - has the cheerful blue and gold the X-Men are known for. Scott's own suit seems like a more streamlined version of what a NASA astronaut might wear, grey and baggy though not quite a hardsuit.

"Howard is - " he begins, pulling his helmet on and his voice cutting out for a moment before continuing over the internal comms, "Howard is a friend. He didn't ask to come to Earth, and we owe it to him to keep him out of an alien zoo."

As Scott speaks, the ship leaves the whirling energies of hyperspace for their destination. What's most notable at first is the star here. Impossible ancient, now a halo subgiant approaching its red giant phase. Its hydrogen core exhausted, the surface expanding and cooling now until it is larger than the Earth's own sun.

There, suspended in orbit, are the remains of a world. Like a half-eaten apple suspended against the desolate black of the void. The surface is rocky and swept by the solar winds, dimly lit by the pale light of the Methuselah Star. The vessel is set to land, passing through what seems to be a detritus cloud of ancient starfaring vessels now destroyed.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would shake her head at Scott - whether or not that thing was visible through the suits where the team was all spread out. "Not in the slightest, Cyclops. He was a being far, far beyond our ken to combat beyond perhpas Ms. Grey's alter persona. I couldn't quite tell for sure, but when I tried to press at his consciousness I got the impression we weren't dealing with the primary entity. Just an.. Avatar. A projection. The full entity itself is far, far beyond waht we could face without putting several planets if not worse on the scale of damage." That and they would all likely die in the process.

"So now that we've agreed to put ourselves through this, we might as well follow through." Emma's not happy - but thankfully her diamond form does suppress her emotions. But evne here she can for just a few moments appreciate the spectactular view. And hopefully Hank is recording every bit of it and going for the communal 'squee' which most of them are tood ignified to do

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank replied coolly, "Thank you, Jean." and then "Patty, take a couple of slow breaths for me? In for three, hold for three, out for three." a short pause, "Excellent." and then "Team looks good from my side, Scott." he said, assuming the team medic role without having to be asked. "X-men, the small flat module located at the small of your back is for tracking. If for any reason you need to remove your suit, remember to take the attached belt and module with you."

"For the interested parties, the star of this solar system is the famous Methuselah star, so named for its age. One of the oldest known. Not sure about this wreckage, looks very old. When we get a little closer, keep your eyes peeled, see if anyone can recognize the any of the technology."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"He's a hoarder with a penchant for living beings Patty. Sentient ones at that." Tabby adds not having much of an opinion of the entity as she adds to the explanation.

The big bite looking chunk of planet missing gets a whistle as she finally puts her helmet on. "Damn, is it just me, or is that an explosion and a half that did that? Way to make a girl feel cosmically insignificant." destroying huge labs is one thing. But coring out a world is a bit out of her weight class.

Beast's request gets a chuckle as well. "Dude, are you planning a salvage trip out here for parts and crap?" she half teases. It would be nice if the wreckage wasn't already picked clean.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's green eyes watch everyone finalizing their outfits, as she simply stands there with her gloved hands upon her hips, her thumbs idly playing with the edge of the belt cinched around her waistline. With another heavy sigh at the sight of the broken up starships outside, the Belle softly shakes her head, and walks past some of the otheres to retrieve her helmet from the small bin in the bulkhead.

Continuing to quietly mutter something in French to herself, Rogue slips the helmet on over her head, tucking it around the bound hair at the back of her neck, she afixes it to the high collar of her suit, and activates its inner rebreather technology. More muttering comes inside the helmet as her freed hands now move toward the locker beside the nook that her helmet had been stowed in. She pulls out a long black leather trench coat that she slips on over the rest of her sealed bodysuit, the last few tucks and tugs of her hands going to its lapel to pop it up around her neck and the seal of her helmet to her suit's high collar.

She mutters a little more, but otherwise seems ready to roll out.

Patty Sloan has posed:
Patty blinks. She speaks up but can't be heard. Quickly she looks around for a button or something and finally gets it. "So an Alien Duck." She smiles. "That sounds really cool to be honest."

As the ship comes out of hyperspace she gets a look at the star thats fading to its red color. "Whoa." She comments before looks at the planet. "Well. I always wondered what a dead planet looked like."

"Oh Okay!" Patty nods and breathes in for three seconds then out for three seconds. In for three, out for three. In for three and out for three. All good. Then as Hank shifts over to teaching mode Patty has a small smile on her face. "You'd think there would be some sort of Science outpost out here to study the star if its as old as you say." Then Tabby explains the Collector to her. Patty smiles, "So its not just a clever name or anything. He really is a collector."

Jean Grey has posed:
The SR-X has shielding, courtesy of the Shi'ar, although notably not combat spec ones, operating at only the minimum strength necessary for 'basic operations,' whatever that means to the space birds.

To Jean, it means she pauses to close her eyes and focus on the space around them, reaching out to telekinetically feel through the debris field, taking note of the larger objects and making sure that they don't encounter anything too big for the ship to handle. Of course, there are proximity sensors and other sorts of backups for things like that, and Scott is a very capable pilot. It's just the sort of extra worrying that goes into something like this.

But without any major crises on the radar, mental or actual, she turns to amble over and stand near Rogue. "Come on, you can admit that it's... pretty amazing. How many people ever get to see something like this? A dying star, as old as anything we know exists." Pause. "Just ignore the ship graveyard around it."

After that, she gives the woman a notable up and down look, eyebrows raised in a definite 'really?' expression. "You look like Remy."

Scott Summers has posed:
The surface of the planet - referred to as 'the First World' in the Collector's charts - is impossibly ancient just to look at it. It would make sense, given that the star it orbits is said to be more than thirteen billion years old according to Earth's astrophysicists and stellar cartographers. The surface looks as though it were once an endless urban sprawl, now mostly collapsed into wastelands of rubble from which crooked and crumbling spires jut skywards. Whatever society was here vanished long ago, leaving only remnants.

The Blackbird comes to land in a clearing, and when the suits are confirmed to be working normally, the hatch opens. Scott is first to step out onto the surface, his helmet-mounted camera feeding back to the heads-up display of the rest of the team. Whatever gravity this place once had has diminished substantially, and each foot fall sends clouds of regolith into the air.

Yet from the ground by the Blackbird, the team can see something unusual. A building that seems to have survived the ravages of time better than the rest. Greco-Roman collonades support a gable reminiscent of a Norse longhouse. A dozen other strange architectural flavors seem intermingled with it, and Scott gestures in the direction of the stone facade.

"Seems like as good a place to start as any," Cyclops concludes, casting a momentary wary eye at Patty - the new blood, though perfectly capable if the reports he'd read were to be believed, "Stick close, everyone. Don't see a reason for us to split up yet."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would muse, "I'd guess very well that things aren't quite as old here as they would make out. Ah.. Henry, I'm not sure if your equipment is capable of doing so, but could you try to give a best guess for how old those are?" Her gesturing over at the buildings that were on display. "A margin of error of a few millenia is fine, I understand." From the way that Emma is speaking, she does have a bit of a theory that she doesn't want to quite word out until she has something to back it up.

Emma goes to cautiously survey things, gesturing at Jean. "Can you pick anything up ahead?" The same gseture given to Tabitha while Emma was in diamond form.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry McCoy followed the team, moving carefully. Despite being in a space suit, his magnificent cat-like body was still rippling discernably through the thin layers. Upon inspection of a mural on a partially collapsed wall, Hank offered a brief interlude of potential history. "This depicts a cataclysmic event perpetrated by a massive entity. Judging by the positions of the stars...mmm." he paused, considering the notion that someone had taken the effort to put their pain onto the wall to warn or advise them, billions of years ago. "Well done my old friend. You meant for someone else to know what happened to your world, one day billions of years into the future, and here we are."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Landing is smooth enough. With Jean making sure nothing random bounces off the SR-X. And once down Tabby hmms. "Any kinda atmo? Just asking in case I need to boom something. Don't need to breath it after all for that." she asks Scott and Beast being the sorts that might keep track of.

Seeing the building ahead of the, Tabby grins, already doing the scanning for a telepathic ping trick. Aliens tend to be better at blocking intrusions but seeing what's out and about in case of competition doesn't need to be. <<First World problems huh?>> she jokes over the team mind link. More in intrusive telepathy because radio might get futzy about the place.

That's when something hits her in the brain. And through the visor she can visibly be seen wincing if only because she can't run her temples. <<The crap is that? Like thought I pinged someone, but AHH, it's just noise back and forth. Like bad guitar feedback in a bathroom. Echoing outta the Astral Plane!>> she does not look or sound like she's having a good time.

Rogue has posed:
There are few people at Xaviers School who Rogue is more angry at than Remy LeBeau, by which to say he's the only one she actively avoids and has no interest in seeing, let alone speaking to. He'd treated her badly, for a long time, and as such, she has one reaction when Jean says his name to her.

"Who?" She asks, chasing it with a smirk, though Jean likely feels a sudden flare-up of very hot anger inside the Belle's emotional pulse. She is quick to try and cast it away, however.

Her covered eyes had looked back toward where she'd seen that wreckage, but it was gone now. "Apparently a lotta the people who saw this place, also ended up stayin here in a open grave..." She muttered too, before glancing down at herself.

"I like this look..." She muttered under her breath.

Moments later, as the team begins their exploration, the Belle ends up behind Hank's left shoulder, and as she overhears what he says, she sweeps past him, her green eyes on him as she steps around ahead of him, speaking to him as she goes in a sweet voice. "Tu as le don de la parole, Beasty."

With a little skip in her step, Rogue moves ahead a few paces of the others, her eyes scanning over what she sees before them as she lifts up off of the ground, floating a good fifteen feet up in the 'air' now.

Patty Sloan has posed:
Patty follows along. A quick burst of wind blows across the dusty plain. "Sorry. That was me. Just making sure my powers work here." She blushes a little bit as she follows along. Then there is Rogue's comment about the people who unwillingly stayed here. "Lets hope we don't join them."

As she enters into the dilapidated building, Her eyes scan over the place. They fall on a large statue. "Huh. That looks almost like a statue of Zeus. You know from Ancient Greece? I was watching a show on Discovery about Ancient Greece not too long ago." She smiles. The more you know. "Its really uncanny how close it looks."

She then gets reminded of the mental link between the team. "Sorry!" She comments over it the link. "I forgot about this from the last time." She blushes a little as she continues observing the place.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Sorry!" Jean shoots back at Rogue, hands raised. "It looks a lot BETTER on you." Nice save? Seems even the all powerful Jean Grey has to suck it up and take the L sometimes, when it comes to those little relationship dramas!

As they move on to explore, and despite the absurdities involved, the ridiculous scales of time and space, there are things... familiar about this world. Near ageless but once-inhabited and now dead? Ancient spires, speaking of equally venerable, and presumably highly-advanced builders? Some of them have been somewhere like this before. Jean has too, technically, although her memories of that visit are somewhat... fractured.

Her human memories, at any rate. Try as she might to avoid them, a whole different kind of recollection pushes at the edges of her consciousness. As she walks beside Rogue, there is a brief pause as she closes her eyes to banish the imagery, focusing on the here and now. It's a different place, a million light years away. And it has its own ghosts.

When she opens them again, Rogue has flown on ahead, and her brow scrunches up inside her helmet. "An imprint," she echoes after Tabitha, as she too reacts to the lingering presence, albeit in more exaggerated fashion. "And a large one. The mind isn't truly as isolated of a thing as we think of it. Wherever intelligence exists, where we dream and think, our thoughts touch... well, whatever it is that exists beyond us. Strong enough minds, or enough of them, have a greater impact. And it can carry their emotions, their memories, perhaps even some part of their being, long after they're gone."

"Especially if those things are particularly powerful." Another beat, and she tries it in layman's terms: "An echo in the force, more or less."

Bishop has posed:
Bishop comes ready for space, black and purple suit with a helmet tucked under his right arm, on his waist are his blaster as he blows a big purple bit of bubble using gum. He walks over to lean against the wall, one foot is up tapping over and over, waiting for the action to start. His dreads are tied back in a bun, to make them helmet ready with a nod of his head, waiting for blast off, waiting for action. His jaw is clenched tight, this was not in his history and he was a tad ready to learn how it will all go down. "It's almost go time baby." His eyes move over the others, waiting to put on the helmet till the last moment, hating the idea.

Scott Summers has posed:
The team continue to move through the ancient building. Flashlights pass over walls, revealing odd stories frozen in time.

A perplexed look crosses Scott's face and his brow furrows, turning back to look at the statue nearest to Patty. His features are largely concealed behind the ruby quartz lenses of the goggles he wears, though it's evident he sees the strangeness of finding something like this so far away from Earth in both space and time.

The strange building itself seems almost like a temple, or a library. Every surface seems carved or otherwise decorated in a way to tell one or many stories. But all of it seems to lead inward, the strange narrative progressing until it culminates in something like an altar that Rogue floats through the air towards. Scott follows near behind, passing the light of his torch to illuminate stark and highly-detailed stonework that seems to have no business surviving given the age of it.

At the pinnacle of the altar is a depiction of a great being, arms stretched to its side. A stone sphere that may well be the world they are standing on in an earlier, living age is suspended before it. Two blunted, angular horns extend from either side of the cylindrical helm the being wears.

But there's something there. Imprisoned within the cracked stone depicting a world turning on an invisible axis before the helmeted statue. A light escapes from within. A hum fills the air. The altar itself hums to life, ancient machinery raising what look like glowing buttons on the surface.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would muse over, "Not often something so isolated can have such a strong imprint.." She goes to shift back to her human form so she can use her telepathy. Then she glances over the.. Altar? Yes, that's what it seems to be. And that energy field coming up that seems to be activating it. She squints. It doesn't look like the technology in that wretched, wretched volcano in Antarctica so she goes to breathe easier not seeing deritus of biological experiments.
    She goes to try and reach out her mind then to see if there's something inside. Something in stasis? Or likelier someone. How fresh was this imprinting anyways?

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry McCoy says, "Tu es le vrai cadeau, Anna Marie." replied The Beast in a low and handsome voice, sweetness returned in kind to his teammate. The interchange broke him free of his Toreador-like contemplations.

"I like that observation, Patty. Its perhaps times like this where we find that those old stories have more than a shred of truth." he agreed. "And if we're in the early part of the story, Chronos the Titan had swallowed the bulk of the pantheon, and it took Rhea to fool him with a stone to save Zeus from that fate."

He paused when the machine whirred to life and then to Scott, "Imagine building a machine that still works after a billion years." to express his awe. "X-men, be alert. If this were easy the Collector would have fetched it himself.""

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"You wanna get elbow deep in Olympian history? Y'all oughta swing over to the Themysciran Embassy one day, Patty. Might get lucky and introduce yaself to one of the Wonder Babes there. Think they're like extended fam to the gods or something." Tabitha suggests to the new girl with a smile. Trying to not let that echo rattle the blonde's nugget too much.

Jean's more experienced explanation gets a shrug. "I wanna guess when all this happened, someone powerful, or a bunch of people all tried noping out to the Astral plane? Got caught with their asses hanging out the door." It's a guess.

She has no idea how something like this could happen.

Inside, Tabitha lets her powers do the lighting, floating orbs of plasma with plenty of light but no real boom in them so illumination can be in all directions around her.

"Pictographic live blogging their own doom?" she asks. "If it was worth his time he'd have gotten it himself." because moving machinery and visible buttons are totally not forboding.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is on a perimeter sweeping flight plan that carries her around the team, her eyes darting from the various elements of the environment around them, back to those on her team. She ends up floating past Patty as she hears Beast and Tabitha responding to the new girl. "If it turns into a swan, and comes at ya, make a run for it." She states of the statue, before she flies off again.

"Got somethin' up here." Rogue calls out to the others, her jacketed form hovering in mid air in front of the glowing machine, her eyes roaming over the horns, and the controls that seem to operate it.

"My damn cell phones start slowin' down after a couple'a years, an' this thing works for a billion? Maybe this place is better than Earth..." She utters in a grim tone, her eyes darting back to Jean and Scott.

"We got any idea how to operate this? Maybe it's like a Claw machine? could make a Youtube video about it, get millions'a views." Because that is what is important here.

When she looks back to it, she starts floating off to the side, slowly, her head shaking inside her helmet. "I got a bad feelin about this, ya'll."

Patty Sloan has posed:
Patty continues to observe. Her eyes are glued to that statue as she steps toward it. "This place really is giving off a temple vibe isn't it." She asks to see if its just her. "You don't think that this place actually worshiped Zeus' Doppelganger here do you?"

Then Tabby suggests the Themysciran Embassy. That actually gets her attention. Namely because of the link to Greek Mythos but there is of course another reason... "I might just do that. I Think it would be a fun little trip. Maybe I can learn something new." She turns a few shades of red as the second part of that may be to meet a potential girlfriend.

"That makes sense actually. Look at what people do on Earth when there is an emergency situation. The phones come out and people start recording the events. Why would it be any different here?"

Then there is Rogue's comment. "If it turns into a Swan I will outrun you to the Blackbird. I know what comes next in that story!" She laughs.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko generates a pale spark in the palm of her gauntlet for light.  It lets off a tiny consistent crackle, which seems to bother her since she only lets it go for about ten seconds.  There's something about being robbed of one sense in unknown conditions that doesn't sit well with her, so she uses her 'light' sparingly and instead zips closer to Scott and his light.

The speedster can take her time as the others stroll.  In her own frame of velocity, she gets to have all the time in the world to pour over all the intricate features around her.  Still, she remains around Scott, not unlike a bug gravitating toward light on a summer night.

When the buttons start raising up, Noriko abandons all former inspection and reaches out toward them.  "What do these do?"  It's like having a child that can press the BIG RED BUTTON before anyone can even think about it.  If someone doesn't stop her, she's going to press it.

Jean Grey has posed:
Their travels eventually bring them to the chamber of this stone titan. With the conversation Patty and Hank are having, Jean is certainly a bit wary of the imagery. "Wouldn't be the first time we've seen evidence of 'space gods,' of things from our mytho-history turning out to be aliens of one kind or another."

Emma is sort of on the same track of thinking, and whether by coincidence or telepathic prying, Jean echoes the thought: "The Celestials are just one of any number of examples, as little as we know about them. Another one gets thirst trap content posted on Instagram."

Eventually, Jean stops to stand before the large statue and the orb held in its grasp, looking upward. The glow from the interior of the cracked stone does make her scrunch her nose up a bit: "Look, if we're doing the 'cosmic egg' routine, I just gotta say: been there, done that, got the color-coded to my emotions t-shirt." Sometimes humor is a way to deal with the darkness!

Jokes aside, when Rogue mentions finding something, Jean likewise takes off from the ground. The suits have thrusters, of course, but she doesn't bother with them, floating herself up toward the trenchoat astronaut. "Bad feeling means we're on the right track."

Sadly, she is not in position to be monitoring Noriko the ever-mischievious...

Bishop has posed:
Bishop walks now helmet is pulled down his hand is moves towards his guns with each bit, of it ready for trouble. Fingers on bashing against the side, watching it all seeing the great being with the arms. His eyes studying it for a too long, not wanting to turn his back on it in case it wakes, to cause trouble but they are moving forward his eyes no longer able to linger. Walking as he looks over at the stones, with a little exhale of air. "Weird."

Looks over at Emma, than back at Jean waiting for the psychics to get to work. His fingers removing the safety, bringing up the guns with his hands. His eyes flickering over it all, waiting for it, waiting for the trouble. "Easy is never the way for the X-men. We all know, that big dude is going to attack us right?" He looks over at Tabitha, now with a nod at grin at Henry. But, than his eyes flick back to the statue, waiting his hands are ready to open fire, he seems to be locked on to it without moving his eyes now. He nods at Rogue, but he is now totally quiet, focused on that bad feeling.

Scott Summers has posed:
Whatever is within the orb, it does not behave like anything the X-Men have brushed up against telepathically in the past. There is an intelligence there, though it seems entirely removed from the biological. A mechanism unfathomably advanced, yet ancient all at once. As though stemming from a technological origin far removed from the other civilzations of the galaxy.

But whatever it is within the altar, it reaches out. It tests the air. It regards them in silent contemplation. The internal electronics of their space suits hiss and complain for a second as something clearly interferes with them. Nothing breaks, everything seems to return to normal a moment later, but there is no denying the presence of something in the cavernous space with them.

"As far as I can tell," Scott replies, "the Collector seemed to think we'd be able to work it out ourselves."

His attention turns to the raising buttons on the altar, and he opens his mouth to speak whem suddenly Noriko is prodding at them. He seems about to interject, before the entire chamber shudders and something glowing and unnatural seems to step out from within the stonework. A woman, carrying in one arm a clay tablet, she is faintly transparent and would seem more like a hologram than a living creature if one could see where the image was being projected from.

"Thirdborn Children, Blood of the Distant Stars, heed now Nidaba - Keeper of the Record of Dimun - and know that ye as yet untainted by the Fire of Anu tread upon the desolation of That Which Feasts Eternal."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would rub at her temples, "Lovely. It's sentient, we don't know how old it is or what it's mental state is.." And whether this was very much something on autopilot. Or if it was -even- an entity rather than just a fragment of a consciousness imprinted upon here. "Jean, you're better at this than I am.." Loathe as she was to admit it.

"Are we dealing with someone or something here or just an imprint?" After her previous attempt with the Collector, Emma was somewaht wary on reading the minds of anything she didn't quite have a full grasp of. And if this being was alive.. Well, Emma wasn't going to trade over one prisoner for another. She doesn't clench her hands, just looks about to take in the technology.

"Bishop, Henry.. Can you make anything of all this?" gesturing at the duo.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hank poises defensively, but his mind goes on offense. "Some very Mesopotamian sounding names. Nissaba, Nidabba are interchangable for a scribal god, keeper of Record as it said. Anu is the mother of the god Enki. Now Dimun...possibly the ancient civilization known as Dilmun on Earth, it seems very much implied that there may be some link here between and some very ancient lore on our planet. Beyond that, I think its speaking plain English, the devour depicted on the mural by the entrance is either here, or its history is." he glanced back at the mural one more time. "Consider the notion that we are in a vault of some kind, what would you keep here that the Collector would want."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Nori pushed a button, and Tabby is wincing ready to expect high end security system in all it's ancient dilapidated glory to start firing on everyone.

Instead it starts playing a holographic message. "Not a temple, more a museum?" she shrugs her shoulders while she watches. "Fire of Anu? That's not...?" she looks to Jean specifically. "I got my own fire enough for everyone thank you very much." she floats and swirls her plasma orbs around her in a slow steady orbit.

"Museums can still have vaults." more shrugging but she keeps listening. "I bet whatever happened here isn't gonna get told. But we'll probably fill in the blanks. Asspull hypothesesisiseez!"

Bishop has posed:
Bishop looks between Emma abotu to open his mouth, than he closes at as Henry speaks allowing him to handle his, his hands is move to aim those blaster at things now. "What he said, yep." His voice is comes out slowly, his eyes are focused on everything but the thing everyone else is looking at, as he starts to patrol in a little circle around the others.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue comes to settle down out of the air, landing beside Scott and Jean. She watches Nori just go right at the machine, and tap the buttons upon its panel. "Well, that's one way to just get the game over screen faster." She quietly comments. Like the others, her eyes go to the holographic woman that appears, most of the words flying right over Rogue's head, like she usually does to everyone else. "Yeah, must be a museum." She agreese with Tabitha. "Or maybe like those Michael Jackson stage holograms. I always wanted t'go see one'a those live... wait, is live the right word?" She frowns at herself, and falls silent.

At Beast seemingly knowing what he's talking about, Rogue motions toward him. "Ask it if there's anything expensive around here. If it says yes, ask it if we can have it. I figure this Collection fella probably wants whatever is the most valuable trinket in this old busted up place..."

With a glance back to Bishop, Rogue smirks. "Don't shoot stuff up yet." She tells him, "We gotta figure out why this thing cares about Earth history, even though we're like a trillion billion miles from it..."

Patty Sloan has posed:
Patty is just stunned by the ancient figure. How is this thing still working? What is the purpose of it? Why was it still functioning? There are too many questions and not quite enough answers yet. She doesn't ask any of the questions running through her mind but they may be picked up telepathically. She shakes her head. The whole thing felt off to her. "A temple could be turned into a museum." She comments as she takes it all in.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Oops," Noriko didn't mean to give it that much pressure.  Oh well!  Buttons!  "Cool," but she quickly shuts up and squints at the slightly transparent lady when she begins to speak.

"So, I'm guessing she's the Keeper, Nidaba?  And we've yet to be untainted by something really confusing grammatically," the speedster sums up, then looks to the others for a better explanation.  "This sounds like we haven't gone through some sort of trial...Sucks to be thirdborn.  I bet firstborn doesn't have to do this....Hank, that's not plain English."  To the native ear, perhaps they might be able to make sense of the odd structure, but for someone who English is their second language, no matter how fluent Nori is, it sounds like gibberish to her.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Artificial, likely..." Jean answers Emma. "Which isn't to rule out it being alive." They know Warlock, after all. "But it could just be a recording, an interactive message, an interface to a database, who knows." She upnods Rogue. Like holo Michael Jackson or Tupac!

Although not as well versed as Hank, Jean, by virtue of her modern condition, has come to a certain interest in two particular facets of mythology: the etiological and eschatological. Or for the non-Hanks, stories of the beginning... and the end. And the really old stuff is interesting.

First and foremost, she looks over to Tabitha, and shakes her head. "He's-" Wait, did Hank say mother? "I thought he was a male deity, a bit of an analogue to Zeus even? Regardless, I don't think so. It's hard to... unravel all that stuff. I don't know if any the names the Phoenix gave us were literal, or it was just speaking through our own cultural or religious understanding? Either way, I don' think this was one of them."

If there is any definitve answer from the firebird, it remains unspoken.

She comes down closer to the hologram speaking to them. "I think so," she agrees with Noriko, before turning to address the hologram, curious if it would answer directly. "Can you explain the purpose of this place further? What's contained here, or recorded?"

Bishop has posed:
Bishop looks over at Rogue with a nod at her, his hands is still clutching the guns. "Yeah, figure it out first before we get attacked. Good plan,. but when we get attacked I'm ready you know." His eyes move to the others, as they are talking about all that weird, right now it's beyond his attention, they got this handled. "Trials tend to come with exploring odd places, folks love them and to tell you we failed and than try to kill us, or kill us if we win. I mean hell, it's always something trying to kill us. At least when I have gone out with you, isn't that just how it goes down?"

Scott Summers has posed:
"I have touched thy mind," Nidaba says, turning to address Henry directly, "Thy speech is descended from mine own, as are all but the most ancient tongues."

"Thou who art touched by the Fire of Anu. Thy soul speaks of ruin and rebirth. Thou who art touched, yet serves not destruction but life. Here lifted is the Ban of Vahagn Vishapakagh. I give thee words so thou may understand. I give thee the Record so that thou may know ruin."

The strange stone globe begins to open, exposing something glowing white within. It hums noisily, the frequency finding the ears of the X-Team and sounding at first like noise but slowly taking on a melody. A tune that slowly becomes the chanting of a choir. A language older than the Earth itself, yet somehow it lingers just on the border of understanding.

The group now stand in a courtyard. It looks similar in shape and size to the ruins outside the temple-museum, but the world is alive. The grass is lush, the skies are blue. It would be idyllic, if not for the great figure almost a mile tall who stands astride the city. He bears a long beard, violet armor glistening in the light of a sun much brighter and smaller than what they just witnessed.

The world itself shakes.

The voices of the choir begin to coalesce. The words seem to subtley reform themselves in the minds of the X-Men. A word unheard of before. A word so terrifying that even the Guardians of Oa refuse knowledge of it to their Green Lanterns.

... ga ... lak ... tus ... Ga ... lak ... tus ... GA-LAC-TUS ... GA-LAC-TUS ... GA-LAC-TUS ...

Emma Frost has posed:
The group goes to get caught up in a.. Collective memory? A broadcast? Is it an experience? An after-image? Emma's too caught up in the vividness of it all as she can only look up and put things into terms that make any sort of remote sense to her. It must be some sort of.. Celestial? And this is less a crazed hallucination and more memories and altered perception by panic and mania of whatever is going on. But something is fuzzy here..

Likely just due to the circumstances. She pauses over then and cocks her head as the choir goes on, building up in a harmony, a mantra.

"Is this a.. Burial ground?" Not for graves. But for a culture. A vault with those things left over after the end.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry McCoy says, "This feels like a warning. Galactus sounds like a big name for a big threat." Hank says looking long at the Violet Armored Figure in the vision. "If this is who feasts eternal, and the mural depicts the destruction of a planet, then it would seem it feasts on worlds themselves. Something worthy of a warning from an ancient God.""

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Sure Tabitha can do a really good Hestia impersonation. Fire of Creation? Sounds a lot like plasma, the stuff most stars are big all balls of. "We're talking deities right? How many of them are shapeshifters and actually non binary? One region might perceive a god as feminine, another masculine. The Phoenix might have a thing for hot redheads now, who doesn't? But like it can't be the only host."

The new name gets Tabby trying to link the syllables in the right order until it's done for her. "Galactorrhea?" she folds her arms against her chest again. "Galactus, the crap is that? This is one of those lost in translation things isn't it?" Beast answers or at least guesses. "Was that the thing we left comatose out by Pluto that time? Did we already solve that problem? High five!?" she holds up a hand ready but expects to get left hanging.

Rogue has posed:
Needless to say a lot of this is utterly confusing to Rogue. How they can be so far from Earth, yet facing so many things that seem directly tied to their planet's history, sprinkled in with other worldly elements. When they shift in to the courtyard setting, and the chanting becomes ever more audible, allowing her to understand the word that is being repeated, the Belle narrows her eyes.

"I don't understand why we were sent here to see this." She says through the commlink inside of her sealed helmet. "What does this garner for the Collection fella? Is this Galactus a person, or an Event? Like, are they shoutin for a band to come out on stage, or some kinda Adolph wannabe?"

With a sideways look toward Scott and Jean, Rogue upnods at them. "Should we grab the projector thing, and just rip it off? Take that back to the guy, maybe it'll appease him well enough that he leaves Howard alone? Knowledge is power, afterall, right?"

Patty Sloan has posed:
Patty blinks a few times as she watches the display. She hears the words sung and seeing the world shake she takes a deep breath. Her eyes go to Emma, "I think the whole planet is a burial ground..." She shudders. "Whoever this Galactus is, I think they are big bad news."

Patty looks away from the display. She winces as a little wind whips around her. She sighs. "Sorry." She comments as the wind dies down. "What if... what happened to this planet was that, whatever it is. That purple dude. It destroyed everything." She frowns and shakes her head. "How many people must have lost their lives?" She asks curiously. "All I know is this feels like a warning."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Don't look up, don't look up.  This guy is straddling the city!  Noriko lets the others do the thinking.  "Um.  Should we be here?"  Noriko chances to ask.  Yes, the one who pressed the buttons first.

"This seems like a warning.  What if this Collector wants this guy because he's like a weapon?  Should we be giving this Collector dude a living weapon?  Is this like where he's kept or something?"

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean crosses her arms as the hologram keeps talking. Or more pointedly, contradicts her own claim that she is NOT the thing! She's realy trying her best to deny all of this. "I'm mot not going to argue the theological mapping. A lot of religions are pretty loosey-goosey on that kind of stuff and ancient humans were making up a lot of it as they went along. Add some syncretism and everything gets pretty jumbled. But..."

Well, 'soul of ruin and rebirth?' How can she dispute it? Moment by moment, it grows more difficult argue against any of this, to deny it, or hold it back, something she's been doing - subconsciously - since the moment they arrived. Since she first laid eyes on that ancient, dying star.

The others hear the song and are transported to this vision of a long-dead world. And Jean sees it too. But the vision offered to them, of this world before it's end, and its destroyer looming above...

...it is not new to her.

The others wonder what it means, but Jean is beyond that. In an instant, everything she's been walling off comes rushing back. No human knows the name, the Oans will not speak it... but the Phoenix knows. And through it, she witnesses not just this dead world, but a countless infinity like it, destroyed across time, over and over again. To a cosmic being it is an abstract thing, perhaps, but to the woman forced to watch all of this as a passenger in her own flesh?

Jean collapses to her knees, before the statue, reaching to clasp at her helmet, as if trying to get at her face. "Oh no, oh no..."

Scott Summers has posed:
The vision that the X-Team share is one of chaos on the largest scale. The world itself shakes, and the being they call Galactus seems to drink the very life of the world into himself. The people running about them do not seem to see them, in some cases passing right through them. Then, just as quickly, they are back within the quiet of the temple.

"Thou art here for it was thy destiny to take this Record. To see the destruction of the Firstborn, and know the treachery of the Secondborn. For it is from their blood that thou art quickened."

The Record itself - the glowing white sphere - passes through the air to land in Henry's hand. Scott glances sidelong at it, speaking through the comms unit to say: "I get the feeling that's what we're here for."

"Go now"

In that same moment, Nidaba simply vanishes. The lights on the altar still themselves. The very building around them seems to sag, as though whatever life had allowed it to stand so long had now left it. A shower of pebbles fall down, clattering noisily on Rogue's helmet.

"Should we be leaving it here? Jean!" Scott asks, turning to Hank to ask something further when he sees Jean collapse. He moves swiftly, placing hands upon her shoulders to try and help her to her feet. It might be Rogue's job, but he got there first.

"Enough ... we're getting to the Blackbird and we're leaving. We'll work out our next move later."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost's eyes go wide for just a few moments as she whirls around to glance over her shoulder. Then Jean is collapsing. Scott beats her to go along to help Jean no doubt followed promptly by Rogue. Emma can feel -everything- radiating off of Jean. She closes her eyes. "We won't be taking that back to the Collector." She has very little idea of what it is. Just that it has the Oans quaking in terror. And even Emma knows what the Oans can do.

She's adding to the 'we're getting uot of here' bit herself as her hands would clench into fists. Now they need to make another plan.. And another spectrum of terror is about to begin that makes even the Phoenix cry. That make sit's host tremble.

She doesn't give any instructions to the others - just being on standby to help if need be. Looking over and committing the thing to memory. The sensations, the experience.. She uses her telepathy to take all of it, and makes a mental recording. Then she goes to lock it down in her consciousness for later review. she didn't have an eidetic memory.. But she could approximate it.

And as the group goes to depart, Emma Grace Frost..

Trembles and feels completely helpless.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry McCoy says, "It knew our genetic ancestry, it knew where we traveled from, it knew how to speak to us. Now I understand why the collector sent us." Hank said, looking at the sphere in his hand and then to the others. He's not here to make the call on whether or not to deliver the 'historical documents' to the blackmailing Collector, but he cannot shake the fascination of being here for the retrieval and experiencing the God machine. "We're here because it wouldn't talk to him.""

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"I don't think this Galaxy Class is here." Tabby suggests looking a little confused. The show goes on and Tabby isn't having a good day psychically herself. the echoing noise in her head still goes on." She's going to be lighting a blunt the second she has a free moment.

Jean's reaction even worse as she gets it like it's a flashback.

"Flark me, no way something that could do what we saw to a planet like this is going to be stored here. Sentient or not. And if it did, it's long gone." the orb is in Beast's hands.

"Question is, who gonna believe us when we tell people? There's this dude with a name that sounds totally made up in English, eats planets. Where the crap is he? Are we even on the radar for this guys binge eating? Now we gotta go home heralding a cosmic threat that might not even head our way. Everyone gonna blame us if he does show up! Damn muties endanger the planet again!" she might be getting panicky.

Rogue has posed:
"I still don't think any of this makes any damn sense!" Rogue protests, having more questions than she is getting answers for.

She watches the orb float toward Hank's hands, and calls out to him. "Be careful! Don't let it burn your beautiful fur off!" Whenm out of the corner of her eye, Jean is hit by some kind of mind blast that drops her down to the ground. Turning, Rogue moves to intercept her, but is blocked by a wave of falling debris that causes Rogue to recoil, and take a moment to look upward to see if something larger was about to crush her! When she looks back down, Scott is aiding Jean, which has her release a small sigh inside her helmet. And more muttering.

"Lets get the Hell outta here then," she states in a grumpier tone of voice. She turns to walk toward Hank, and checks out what he's carrying now. "Is it hot?" She asks. "How do you know all the damn stuff you know anyway, Hank?" She questions HIM now, as she means to head back to their transport ship. "this better be what the guy is lookin' for, cause I ain't comin back here, damnit!"

Patty Sloan has posed:
Patty sees the distress of the Headmistress of the school. She also notes that she is trying to take her helmet off. That is a very bad idea on this dead planet. Quickly Patty forms an air pocket around Jean and Scott. Its not something she's done before. She is simply acting on instinct right now. "Not a good idea to take off your helmet Doctor." She states as she maintains the bubble. She actually has her hands before her, using them to focus her abilities.

"If this thing is out there, I don't think any planet with life is safe. We can only hope we aren't in its path. If it is coming, the best we can hope for is some sort of warning. Though I think that's what we got here."

"I think the question we need to ask is What does the Collector want with this. Its a warning for us isn't it? I mean it doesn't benefit the Collector in the least."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Well I don't know Tabitha maybe it was like buried in the planet," Noriko defends her question weakly though it sounds like she doesn't believe it now.  She doesn't stick around to chat about the possibilities.

Scott doesn't have to make the call twice.  As soon as he gives the order to go back to the ship.  She scouts between the group and the ship until everyone has gotten back safely...enough.  She helps close things up once everyone is aboard.

Jean Grey has posed:
In that brief moment, a single point in time, all the barriers come down, and Jean thinks, sees, experiences, remembers as her passenger does.

Needless to say, that kind of input, even limited to the briefest moments, is overwhelming. The other telepaths get it in a secondary echo, as her normallly carefully-maintained mental barriers collapse without the effort to maintain them. Flashes, fragments, tiny portions of the infinite, which still manage to be terrifically descriptive freeze-frames of more apocalypses and end-times than most would care to witness. At a point, they may well want to shut her out, just to spare themselves.

All that said, as Scott helps her up, she has no trouble rising, even if she does so somewhat robotically. Unlike previous such 'Jean incidents' (how often does this happen? alot!), where channeling more overt power left her body physically exhausted by the process, here, the flesh is whole. The rest? Who knows.

The others can argue and debate the meaning of what they've found, what they should do with it, what it might mean for Earth, but she has no input. Jean will simply follow as she's led, still muttering, bits and pieces and fragments of broken logic straining to find its perfect whole. "It was him- this is what- it destroyed all their- killed them all- they won't- they know-"

Understanding can be a terrible thing.

Scott Summers has posed:
"It looks like a warning to me," Scott answers, nodding in appreciation to Patty but nevertheless hustling out of the building and towards the waiting Blackbird, "This Galactus. This thing that feasts eternal? This is letting us know it's out there. That it's ... "

The X-Man cuts himself off, shaking his head. He doesn't want to think of that right now. Seeing that Jean is fine, he gives her a critical look before reluctantly letting her go. He moves, letting Rogue swoop in where she's needed. The hatch to the Blackbird opens for them, and ushers the rest of the group up. The last one off the ground.

As he waves them past, his eyes shift to take in the distant temple. As though on cue, it rumbles and then collapses in on itself. It's duty done. A deep breath escapes him and he turns, climbing into the Blackbird as the hatch closes behind him.

Who will even believe them?