2978/No Animals Were Harmed In The Making Of This Scene

No Animals Were Harmed In The Making Of This Scene
Date of Scene:	18 August 2020
Location:	Basketball Court
Synopsis:	Shooting hoops at Xavier's, and discussing the latest situation with Genosha
Cast of Characters:	Jean Grey, Remy LeBeau, Kitty Pryde, Julio Richter

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Jean Grey has posed:
Doctor Jean Grey, aka Marvel Girl, decided to mix things up a bit for the students and staff. Mainly by holding an impromptu basketball skills challenge, since the Danger Room... well, it's good for training...

But there's just sometimes when you need to be outdoors! With the Sun beating down on a relatively pleasant end-of-summer day, Jean's wearing a green tank top and baggy white shorts, along with a visor to keep the sun out of her eyes as her hair is pulled back via a scrunchie.

Currently she's taking a few shots with some basketballs, hitting some and missing some as she's trying /very/ hard to set an example and not cheat with her powers. Though, the fact that she's wearing a glove over her right hand might be hindering her shots a bit.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy is not dressed for basketball. It's not really clear what sort of fashion he's trying to invoke. Perhaps it's whatever he had laying around.

He's wearing black combat boots under a ratty pair of dark denim jeans and a short sleeved button down shirt, tan in color, that looks as if it were made in the 70s, worn in the 80s as a hand-me-down and was lost for decades at a thrift store. It even has those authentic opaque snap buttons to give it the western touch. Naturally in the breast pocket is a soft-pack of cigarettes.

He climbs the hill from the area down by the lake and up unto the basketball court to find Jean Grey out playing basketball.

"Mademoiselle Grey, how are ya dis fine afternoon?"

He reaches into his pocket for a cigarette, placing it between his lips and his hands begin to search for a match.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
One of the balls is taken up by Kitty Pryde as she walks out onto the court. Word may be getting around she's going to be filling in as a substitute teacher while some of the staff are off helping the refugees in Genosha. Anyone taking Scott's English Lit class will know that's one of the classes she's helping with.

But her thoughts are not on subbing at the moment. Kitty's wearing a pair of Air Jordans with her shorts and tank-top. She's gotten a lot of sun, her skin a nice tan color. The brown hair is pulled back into a ponytail as it often is.

She dribbles the ball, handling it without needing to give it much attention. Kitty makes a move to the left and then spins back right like someone was guarding her. She lets fly a shot, one which looks wildly inaccurate. Until, that is, Lockheed comes swooping down out of the sky and bumps the ball with his nose to redirect it into the basket. "Alley Ooop!" Kitty calls.

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio was coincidentally in the backyard, flopped on a blanket with a can of orange soda and some required reading for English class (so unfair). As he notices a group gathering out by the basketball court, he gratefully tosses the Grapes of Wrath aside -- lightly, as he's not Dorothy Parker, and the book is borrowed -- as he goes to investigate. Some physical activity is just what he needs to feel cleansed of that interminable turtle chapter.

He's already wearing a pair of green shorts and a pink tank top with a gradient sunset, so anyone who didn't see him vacate his picnic blanket has no reason to suspect he didn't come here specifically for the skills challenge. Except that it's a basketball skills challenge, and he has none of those /to/ challenge.

"I played a game called horse once," he announces, brushing a hand back through his shaggy hair. "I spelled 'horse' faster than anyone." That's basically like winning, right? He grabs a ball from the court, doing a pull, flick, and bounce move with his sneakered foot instead of stooping, and the ball lands neatly in his hands. Fútbol, he can do.

He laughs at Lockheed's last-minute save. "Do we all get dragon assists?" he asks, still hesitating before taking his shot. "I might need them."

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean grins over at Kitty, "So Lockheed gets the point for that one, not you, Kitty." She chuckles, glancing over towards Remy, "Doing okay, Remy, figured it'd be good to get out of the mansion for a bit, have some relatively fresh air."

With that, she dribbles the ball experimentally a bit, then lobs an easy pass over to Julio, "Relax, it's just a test of coordination. You don't have a pass or fail, just gives an idea of thinking outside the box a bit." She laughs at the mention of 'horse' by Julio, "No dragon assists. Though I might talk to Lockheed about goal-tending rules if he keeps that up." Apparently, she's in a pretty good mood today.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy's head tilts upwards as Lockheed gets Kitty's assist and he can't help but smile. He finally finds his matches, conveniently located behind the soft pack and always the last place you look.

He lights the cigarette and flicks his wrist a few times to put the match out, "Look a bit different den any game ahve eva seen."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde flashes a grin back to Jean and Julio. "Hey, I'll take the assist. And Julio, he only helps those who keep him well fed," she tells them. She walks over to grab the ball from where it's bouncing after going through the net. "I think that might be the opposite of how it works, Julio, but hey, I'm game for changing up the rules," she says in a good-natured tone.

Kitty dribbles the ball idly as she watches Remy and Jean passing the ball. "Remy, you didn't play much basketball down in Nawlins or wherever it is you're from down there?" she asks him. She takes another shot, this one dragon unassisted. It banks off the backboard and goes through, Kitty moving to retrieve the ball again.

"What's that you're reading over there, Julio?" she asks him after having seen the book. She dribbles a few times, eyes going to Jean. "Are you going to be around the school, or heading out to the island?" she inquires.

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio sees Jean's pass coming at him, drops the ball he's already holding, and catches it. He moves to still the ball he dropped with a foot, but basketballs are /way/ bouncier than what he's used to, and it ends up getting away from him, so he has to chase it down the court. His second attempt at basketball is already going extremely smoothly, as everyone has no doubt noticed. Good thing he isn't being graded on this.

Finally he heads back toward the hoop, a ball under each arm. Traveling! He bowls one over onto the large mesh sack where they'll be stored after everyone is done, holds the other in both hands, and then raises an eyebrow as he watches Kitty, and remembers what Jean was doing before the pass.

Horse does not involve dribbling, so this is going to be more a test of his improvisational skills than, well, /actual/ skills. He bounces the ball experimentally, giving it a little more oomph than it requires, but fairly soon he has adjusted and is bouncing it correctly above waist height. Proper dribbling, though... he's going to have to walk and do this at the same time, isn't he?

He takes a few steps, angling toward the basket, but pretty quickly he gives up and just throws the thing. It bounces off the rim to the left.

"Grapes of Wrath," he answers Kitty. "It's just dirt so far." He suddenly snickers, and adds, "I keep having to look up words. Like 'penes.'" He pronounces it 'pay-nayss'. "That was not what I expected to learn in English class."

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean sighs a bit, muttering about Magneto under her breath. Which, well, she tends to do more often than not these days. Then she looks over at Kitty, "Honestly, I'll probably help coordinate relief efforts since the magnetic blowhard took most of the resources but left the people. Typical."

Not that there's a whole lot of love lost between the Master of Magnetism and one of the First Class X-Men that went after him regularly, after all. Then she then looks over at Remy, "Well, come on, doesn't New Orleans have the Pelicans? You should know /something/ about basketball." And with that, she takes a ball and lobs it easily in his direction with her hand. No TK used for that. Honest.

However, then she does telekinetically grab a ball and yoink it over to her hands, dribbling with practiced ease as she quotes at Julio, "There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do." She winks at him, "Don't try to force it, Julio. Let the momentum of the ball work for you here. Like this." And she demonstrates a pretty slow and easy dribble, just using her left hand for the moment.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"More of a football man m'self, but now and again we shoot a lil bit back in de day," Remy says. He lolls his head a bit and takes a deep drag from his cigarette--the ash extends by impossible lengths as the paper burns away.

He speaks through his exhale, smoke billowing out as he says, "P'haps y'all wanna get Remy in on dis."

He catches the pass that Jean throws to him and, with the smoke still in his mouth and the haze stinging his eyes slightly, he shows a fair bit of form as he releases the ball. Good rotation and pinpoint arc, the ball lands perfectly in the net with a swish.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty watches the others, giving Julio an encouraging smile. Lockheed is flying about overhead, just watching for the moment. "I'm more of a baseball fan to be honest," she says. "We've had some great games here." It's an X-man tradition, even. "But I don't mind shooting some hoops now and then either."

Kitty grabs Remy's ball as he makes the shot, bounce-passing it back over towards him. She moves over nearer to Jean then, giving the other woman a nod of her head as she notes the muttering, obviously commiserating. "I don't know that I'd be much good there," she says slowly. "I mean I can help in normal fashion, but, not like I can do like Storm and help water crops or provide drinking water for numbers. And... and I'm not sure I want to go back there soon if I can help it," she says with a sigh. "If there's enough others to help, I'll let them take lead and cover back here in the meantime."

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio points at Remy. "Yes, I vote we try fútbol next time, too." The man isn't exactly looking like a fitness icon at the moment, but he seems to be speaking wisdom, at least to Julio's ear. And then he fires off a perfect shot, so /obviously/ he must be some kind of chainsmoking, creole-cooking sports savant.

Still, he follows along gamely with Jean's instruction, and dribbling isn't the toughest thing in the world, anyway. It isn't pretty, and he spends most of his time staring at his hand, but soon enough he is walking up and down the court while dribbling the ball.

When he returns to conversational range, he says to Kitty, "I helped with crops, and some temporary rock shelters. Should keep them cool and dry for a while. I've been porting back on afternoons, but honestly we should just be getting them out of there as fast as we can. The whole place is a mess." He tries to line up another shot, sends it flying toward the basket, and it's one of those that bounce off the backboard, one side of the rim, the other side of the rim, and then finally sinks. Messy, but it is a point!

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean grins, "Good shot, Julio!" She nods towards him, then glances over at Kitty, "Yeah, well, we definitely need people holding the fort here. My own powers aren't that handy there, since telekinesis isn't just as handy for moving things around compared to the powers others have, like 'Ro." She shrugs a bit, "But, I think I'm going to be getting a bit busy with... other things." What those are, she leaves blank.

Then she grins over at Remy, "Now you're just showing off. Though Julio has a point. Some futbol might be a good change of pace, next time. I haven't done that since... um... well, it's been a /while/." She laughs a little, continuing to distribute the balls around to some of the other students that showed up, letting them get their own practice and shots in.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
As Kitty passes him the ball, he catches it easily into a dribble before resting it on his hip.

"Pardon, errybody, but would y'all mind fillin' ole Remy in on this business with Magneto?" Remy says before he begins to walk over towards the trash can near one of the picnic tables.

"Fraid aint one for watchin' de news," he adds upon his short return.

He tilts his head towards Jean with a bit of a pitiful look in his hurt black and red eyes, "Jus' a lucky shot, chere."

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio's eyes widen as Remy asks for the Magneto rundown -- where to even start? "He yanked the whole Genoshan refugee camp and half of the island up into the air, made it into a sand castle, and then flew the whole thing up into space, along with a thousand of his favorite mutants." It's an achingly short summary, but it'll do. "Now whatever number of people are left over are stuck there, like, 'what the shit do we do now?' Island is wrecked, their stuff is gone, no power, no nothing."

He pauses, grimaces, and adds like a confession: "I used to think that guy was cool. I tried to /move/ to Genosha once."

He wanders off, trying to dribble a little faster this time, with only mixed success.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean nods, "Yeah, I can't imagine the bind this puts Lorna in, but well... I'm going to try and get some relief efforts coordinated in earnest now with the others. They need rebuilding, and fast... hopefully the Professor's new corporation idea will pay dividends here."

She smirks at Julio's admission, then shrugs, "Magneto can be... charismatic. And he's definitely speaking from how he was wronged for a good part of his life. I wouldn't begrudge him that... but I would hold screwing over ninety-nine thousand mutants to help a privileged few against him. A lot." She grimaces. "Honestly, I didn't think even he'd do something that cold-blooded."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy dribbles slowly, but smoothly, toward the basket and puts in a lithe layup. "Guess ah dun understand."

LeBeau is a simple man, for sure. Low in education and not one for politics. You can almost see the gears moving inside the brain underneath a crazy shock of hair.

"T'what end does Magneto tink dat dis will help him in his goal? What's de purpose?"

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio makes his way back to the hoop side of the court, losing control of the ball a few times along the way, but finally returns to the free-throw line and shoots again. Nothing but net! Although, technically, it has to go through the hoop for that to be impressive. Just bopping the net from the side really doesn't count. He runs off to retrieve the wild ball.

When he returns, the Latino stoops, dropping his free hand to his knee. He has an answer for Remy, which he delivers with a sigh. "De verdad, I only know what I got from his speech. After that I was too busy trying to hold the ground together to watch close. Basically, he gave up on the idea of having a country for mutants. Humans are gonna screw us over no matter what. Which is not wrong. So he's going to the only place left that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism." Julio grins lazily at the meme-y reference. "Spaaace!"

Standing up straight again, he says more seriously, "I believe the ones he took with him are going to be an army, and he's going to try to force everyone to treat mutants better."

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean smirks, "Yeah, and how well does that work out for the rest of us. He might as well have just written Kelly a campaign check." She sighs, "The fact that he's doing as well as he is... that terrifies me far more than anything that Magneto is futzing around with in space."

With that, she frowns, "Radicalizing everyone isn't going to be the answer. I wish I knew what it was, but... basically saying 'screw you guys, I'm going to space' isn't it." And yes, she did sound suspiciously like Cartman for that one line.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde lets the others explain about Magneto, her own expression set a little more firmly at the topic. She takes a shot and then after her hand strays to the necklace she's wearing. A Star of David that dangles from the silver chain, fingers moving over it in a way that might be called thoughtful, except she looks distracted, her thoughts on something far from the moment.

After the brief interlude, her attention returns to the others. "I'd not have thought he'd leave them like that," she says with an angry shake of her head. "He's willing to sacrifice people, but... even for him this is..." Kitty says, trailing off rather than trying to finish the thought.

She pulls her hand down from the necklace, leaning over to pick up one of the basketballs, but not dribbling it.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
All of the information seems to confuse Remy even more. "So, he left de planet to make an army to fight de planet?"

He takes a deep breath and shakes his head.

"How much success has he had in gettin' people to his side with dis new move? Can't imagine it'd be too successful, but dere a lot of mad people out dere."

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio laughs, shifting his palms around the surface of his basketball so that it spins in his hands. "I mean, I think I would like living in space with no humans and no governments to worry about," he says, flicking his head toward the main school building. "That's what this place is, right? Just with gravity, and air."

He shrugs. "I just don't like him leaving all those people on Genosha with nothing to do. 'Go back with the humans, I'll be back for you later,' Magneto says, like it's that easy. ¡Al diablo!" Julio looks like he'd like to spit, but maybe not in front of Jean and Kitty. "If they wanted to live with humans they wouldn't have come to Genosha at all."

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean looks over at Kitty, then walks over towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder if she allows it. She nods, "Yeah, I know. I mean, that's not something any of us were expecting." She takes a deep breath, "About the only good thing is that the Justice League didn't try to start something at the time. Which, well, would have made it much worse."

She nods over towards Julio, "And well, we'll have to get organized then, won't we? Because one thing Magneto doesn't know is that running away from things doesn't solve them. The problems are being carried out there with him." A rueful look, then she adds, "I should probably go in and start planning out the relief missions, actually. But it was nice to see the Sun for once."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"Mebbe somebody already taught bout all dis, but mebbe dey don't need no Magneto to have a Genosha. Mebbe dey just need each other and a bit of help. Like it sounds like y'all are doin'. I say t'hell wit Magneto."

Remy's shoulders hop up and down as if that's about as much political thought as he's going to ever give. For the rest of his life.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty doesn't try to answer Remy's question about success or not for Magneto. She does glance to Julio at his comment though. "Genosha wasn't just mutants. As many humans as mutants there," she says, her voice quiet and somber.

The soft touch from Jean causes Kitty to look up finally. She slips an arm about Jean's side, hugging herself lightly against the older woman if allowed. "Thank you," she tells Jean quietly before letting go. Kitty clears her throat. "I should probably go check on the lesson plan for Scott's class," she comments, though she's already been through it. "Lockheed, want to head in?" The little dragon flies down, landing on her shoulder and nuzzling his head against her jawline. The little empathic dragon can sense her mood readily enough.