7068/Birthday Blast

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Birthday Blast
Date of Scene: 25 July 2021
Location: Breakstone Lake
Synopsis: A birthday party by the lake brings people together.
Cast of Characters: Kitty Pryde, Rachel Summers, Rahne Sinclair, Clarice Ferguson, Raven Darkholme, Jean Grey, Rogue, Henry McCoy, Kurt Wagner, Jubilation Lee, Carol Danvers, Dyani Zitkala, Noriko Ashida, Xi'An Coy Manh




Kitty Pryde has posed:
One of the good parts of having a late July birthday is the good weather. It makes outdoor parties more possible, especially in an area like New York, or Chicago where Kitty Pryde grew up.

The area along the shore of Breakstone Lake has been set up for a party. There are grills with food going on them, coolers full of drinks as well as cold fruit punch in a big container. There are a few adult beverages available, but most of it is suitable for students.

A volleyball net has been set up, and the school's small fleet of sailboats and canoes are out where they are easily accessible. A raft floats in the water, and there are various inflatable chairs and innertubes at hand. A couple of water skis sit nearby and a tow rope, though none of the boats have the power to pull someone.

Rachel Summers has posed:
Rachel was invited, right?

Even if she weren't, there would be nothing in this verse to stop her from attending a party that would be thrown at Xavier's. Especially birthdays. It was possibly the only time one would be able to relax, a party on fortified grounds with no ninjas, bad omens, ill tidings to be had. One that had Rachel already in attendance with a drink in hand, bathing suit donned, raft float occupied and sunglasses down. If -anyone- did not know what bliss looked like?

Picture Rachel. Ankles crossed. Hair down, and happy sigh.

Thank god for Kitty's birthday.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
A sound from the bushes suggests that there might be somebody about. It's not an incoming person, any more than it is a howling commando. In this case however a hand flops out of the bushes, laying on the ground while still attached to the person who owns it.

If anyone were to check, they'd find a small redhead who is quite firmly asleep in the bushes. She apparently showed up, wearing a backpack that she got 'somewhere', and collapsed for a bit of a nap before the party.

Of course that might mean she sleeps through the food, but that's a chance you have to take when you walked to get here.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Some distance from the lake - a flash of white portal energy heralds the arrival of Mystique and Clarice, rather than the usual purple energies of Clarice's own portals. Clarice stumbles for a moment, making a face. Sure - she's more used to Ritz's portals these days, but she stoll hates them. In her hand, she holds a simple envelope holding a card for the Birthday girl. She's also put on her swim suit, a plain white bikini with an open-front white beach cover-up over the top of it, in case she does decide to go swimming in the lake.
    And why not? It's a warm day.
    "I suppose we should track down Kitty before someone gets it in their fool head that this is a Brotherhood attack they need to defend against?" she remarks in a wry tone as she starts towards the gathering.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Wearing a pair of denim shorts, a white tank top, and a pair of sandals, Mystique does not look her usual self. Still cobalt with her long hair in a single braid, she's dressed comfortably for the summer weather. Stepping through with Clarice, a quick glance around assures her that they were dropped in the right spot.

"If they still think I'm out to attack the school, and I'm dumb enough to just bamph in like that, let them be stupid Clarice, we're here for a birthday party, nothing else."

Carrying with her a small package wrapped in purple wrapping paper with a white bow, she starts walking toward those gathered for the party. Her amber eyes search those present for the birthday girl, and of course for any signs that someone is actually going to attack... who knows, someone might be stupid.

Jean Grey has posed:
The summer is a great time for parties generally, but a friend's birthday ratchets things up a notch or two, giving purpose to the revelry. So Jean is full of birthday party spirit! Of course, being Jean, she's also full of a certain sense of responsibility, and thus spends the last moments leading up to the official start of the party racing about making sure everything is perfect. Food ready at the grills. Check. The very best of Xavier's plasticwear stacked nearby. Check. Music? Check (it's handy when you have a PA system and don't need to mess with hooking portable speakers to someone's phone). The boats have all been safety checked... check. Check check check.

And only when she's satisfied herself that everything is as close to perfect that they're going to manage does she finally let the party spirit overtake her.

But that doesn't mean she's any less enthusiastic on that account. Ready for the water in a green two piece, flip flops, and big sunglasses, she ends her tour of the scene beside the birthday girl. "Kitty, you have to come see this, we've got an issue over at the food area..." Wait, didn't she just check everything?! Should Kitty dare to look over and see what shadow falls over her party, she will discover the 'problem': something has joined the food area after the last time she checked. It's almost as large as the grill, and entirely wrapped in green, purple and silver striped wrapping paper.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is sitting in a chair on the docks by the patio furniture setup for the cookouts that take place here near the lake. She's wearing a flannel shirt over a bikini top and a pair of denim shorts with flip flops on her feet. On a leash tied to her chair is her yellow lab dog Jeepers. He's laying down and panting happily in the warm weather. Rogue's eyes are looking around from behind her dark lensed aviators, her two toned hair flowing loose and free around her shoulders in the wind coming in off of the lake's waters. She raises a bottle up to her lips to sip from it and occasionally waves to those new comers she sees arriving.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty has been running around helping make sure everything is ready. She's not currently in attendance at the Lake, but that changes as she comes jogging down from the school, carrying a bin full of condiments in bottles and containers. She takes it over to a table, quickly setting the items out for use on burgers, hot dogs, brats, and other grill fare.

Once that's done she turns to look around. Kitty's wearing a red bikini with a wrap about her hips. A pair of sunglasses adorn her face, and she has her Star of David necklace on, as she does most days. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail.

Lockheed comes winging down from the school, carrying a few bags of buns which he gently drops on the table. After he's made his delivery, he flies over, circling above Rachel where she floats in the water, coming in low as if to land on her. "Now that's living," Kitty says towards Rachel, flashing her a grin.

Kitty moves over to the sound system and begins a playlist. The first song sets the summer tone, The Beach Boys "Surfin' USA" starts playing as background for the party. She turns as Jean draws her attention. "What is-" she starts when she sees the present. "Oh my. That's something big. If you gave me Scott, I'm really not sure where I'd put him," she says as she walks over to give the wrapped present a little poke. Nope, not Scott.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Walking toward the party from the manor, is Henry. He's got on a bright Aloha shirt, and simple board shorts. Speedos are for crime-fighting, after all! In his hand he's got a small package, neatly wrapped and tied with a bow. Birthday parties require presents. Hearing and scenting the party before he gets there, his step speeds up - fun is waiting to be had!

When he spots all those gathered, he grins and offers a wave to all. "Afternoon! Happy Birthday!" He calls over to Kitty, in specific. His present is set down, among the others - no need for ceremony in that. "How is everyone?"

Rachel Summers has posed:
Rachel raises the drink to take a sip, gaps in the straw causes that weird noise to be heard as she floats along. A light push of TK sends her spiraling into a bit of a circle; a low and lazy one that you'd naturally only see on television commercials. As the party is underway, Rachel keeps an ear out. Just in case someone calls her name or happens to fall in by accident! Rachel does need a laugh, after all.

The beating wings of Lockheed is priority though! She could hear him, possibly feel the little dragons presence close, already bracing herself for his landing should he decide to.

"Best friend!" She calls out, reaching out one hand to motion him in, and a thumbs up towards Kitty.

"This is the only way to do it!" Which is true! If you aren't floating on water with a dragon nearby, you're not doing it right!

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
The starting up of music has a reaction from the person napping in the bushes. Largely it sounds like someone had sat up in a hurry and gotten their hair and other things caught in brambles, a bit of a complicated procedure that involves holding back swearing and trying not to cuss.

There is some failure in that last part, but she manages to not entirely uproot the bush as she rolls out of it. The fact that her top is caught, riding up to show her stomach and back, and she seems to be trying to tug herself free...clearly irrelevant. She'll be fine shortly.

Anyone got some gardening shears?

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Ahhhh, warm summer days.

Good food, good friends and good fun. Is there anything better?

It certainly helps that there are no classes to worry about as well. At least no formal ones at the very least. Just plenty of relaxing -- and celebrating of course -- to worry about for the day.

The setup is great of course, with plenty of space to mingle, to cook and to have fun. And given how many of these celebrations occur during the year -- with so many mutants in residence here -- it has kind of become an art form.

Fortunately for Kurt, he had a few errands to attend to. It prevented him from helping with all the setup that needs to be done for these sorts of things. Imagine that. How very convenient. And when he finally does appear it is not trudging down from the mansion, or anywhere else on the grounds.

Nope, it is about twenty feet above the lake, that soft *bamf* sounding as he appears in midair, twisting and turning in acrobatic fashion before tucking into a suitable cannonball to insure that maximum splash is achieved.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "It looks like they may be setting the gifts over there," Clarice remarks - indicating there McCoy had left his package. "Hello, Dr. McCoy!" she calls brightly towards the Beast as she approaches. She settles her card in with the other packages. If there's one thing Clarice is awful at - it's buying gifts. She doesn't own very many things herself, beyond the bare necessities so trying to figure out what to buy for others completely baffles her. So she cheated. She bought a card with a Birthday message written in some sort of computer programming language that she didn't understand, but was assured would amuse a programmer, and tucked inside a gift card code to a website that sold computer parts. I mean - Kitty likes that sort of stuff. ...right?
    With her gift delivered, she turns full circle, to try to take in who's present - and spots poor Rahne stuck in the bushes. "Rahne?" she says in a baffled sounding tone. Shooting Mystique an apologetic look, she hurries towards the other woman. "Did you get in a fight with the forest? And //lose//?"

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Lockheed does indeed use Rachel as a landing strip, coming in to perch on one of her legs. Since Rachel's arrival in the here and now, he's adopted her as readily as 'Aunt Kate' did.

Kitty glances up as more people arrive. Clarice and Mystique are given friendly enough of waves. When Henry McCoy comes over, she gets a quick side hung from the younger woman and a warm, "Hey Hank."

Kurt's arrival draws a grin from Kitty as he sends up the geyser of water. Lockheed shakes off the water sort of like a canine might, and then shakes his wings out as well.

That's when Kitty notices Rahne struggling to free herself rom the clutches of the local flora. "Rahne!" Kitty calls with a smile. She jogs over to her, and if Rahne lets her, Kitty rests a hand on Rahne's shoulder and phases her for a moment to help free her of the branches. "You look hungry. Come on, food is coming off the grill already," she says. Kitty motions back towards the others and starts back that way. "Ok, Jean, you have me curious," Kitty says, eyeing the gift and then starting to unwrap it.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Once Mystique reaches the table she sets the box down. It's nothing fancy really, just a high tech do-dad she managed to pick up that would increase storage and processing on any computer it was plugged in to. She wasn't great at presents either, but she knew Kitty worked with computers, so she hoped it worked and was appropriate.

Next was to spot Kitty and make her way toward the woman, slowly, keeping her hands in plain sight because she still wasn't entirely certain if she would get attacked or not. She couldn't really blame anyone for trying, given the past, but she kept hoping that was behind all of them given recent cooperative missions together.

"Kitty," she offers softly. "I want to wish you a happy birthday personally. I hope you have a wonderful and grand day."

Henry McCoy has posed:
Hearing his name, Henry glances over to offer a wave and a smile to Clarice and Mystique. "Afternoon." He offers to both, giving a friendly nod in greeting. His gift is delivered, so now it is all about that food he'd been scenting in the air. A glance about, his hands rubbing together in anticipation. The hug from Kitty is returned, the big man giving her a wide grin. "Happy Birthday again, Kitty. May your day be filled with wonder and joy." A pause. "Ad meah v'esrim." Henry offers to her, making sure to pronounce it correctly.

A glance to the geyser, and then Rahne battling the bush - all in all, seemed pretty standard for an X-Party. The man grinned, letting people settle in and socialize. So much action in their lives, it was always a blessing to find time to relax with friends and loved ones.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Shortly afterward, with the help of helpful helpers, Rahne is picking bits of twig out of her hair. She's got a branch still stuck to the back of her shirt and considering the fact that she's wearing a backpack that's quite the trick.

"Hey," she says, the scratches on her face showing signs of battle. "Ah fell asleep. Ne'er did wake up well." She rubs her eyes, she looks at Clarice and Kitty both, then spots Mystique.

Then she offers the nice lady a small wave.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Mmm. Good guess, you could probably fit Scott under there if you folded him up just right." Poking a gift isn't always informative, but in this case, it pays off: the setup is not just visually similar to the nearby grill, but structurally as well, with some kind of cart or table underneath and the important part on top. Clearly Jean just went and wrapped the whole thing, and the poking makes the legs and empty space on the bottom stand out as the paper pushes inward. Kitty's investigations cause Jean to grin, but she doesn't offer any further hints. "You can wait if you want to do them all together. Should do it by the time everyone starts on the food, though-"

A hint! But Kitty looks eager anyway, so Jean just leaves her to it, grinning all the way.

With that, Jean's free to join the party proper, ambling down toward the water. She eends up next to Rogue and her comfortable chair, looking out toward the water at Rachel as she makes every effort to entice Kitty's companion out to join her. "This is nice, yeah? Though I'm eying the boats." The shore is for squares!

Rogue has posed:
Rogue gave Kitty her present earlier this morning befor ethe party started. It was a computer case that was also a Fish Tank, oh what a silly world.

In the now, the Belle is leaned down and putting a party hat on Jeeper's head. Getting the stretchy string down under the dog's chin and then making the hat sit kinda off-center for the party effect look. When she leans back in her chair she smirks at Jean. "I'm gonna buya big boat some day and sail away. That's the life style right there." She smirks at Kurt's cannon ball and then waves toward Rahne when she sees others helping her out of the bushes. "Someoens' already partyin' too hard."

Rachel Summers has posed:
The splash of the water comes along with a raised leg and arm to try to block.. nothing at all. Thanks to Kurt, Rachel was cooled by the water, and thanks to Lockheed, Rachel got a tiny rain shower that makes her laugh. She was still spinning in that lazy spin, now dropping her limbs only to finish off the drink, placing the cup itself into the holder as to not litter the water.

"You know what I should have gotten, Lockheed? One of those fancy straw hats that women wear in those magazines." A shimmy of her shoulders reveal that the thought was a happy one as her friend sits upon her leg. "And maybe an umbrella.." She idly considers. "..should we jump in to make sure he didn't drown?" Which, drowning for Kurt is impossible. So impossible!

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Here, let me-" Clarice starts, turning Rahne around so she can pluck out the largest of the leaves and twigs with an amused look on her features. "I've probably ended up like this a few times myself - when Mister Creed was teaching me what it's like to get buy in the forests." She had fond memories of those times - even if she had been a traumatized and confused mess all those years back. "There. That's better - should we go say hello to everyone, I suppose? You could meet Mystique if you wanted," she adds.
    "...I did tell her we've been spending a bit of time together," she adds a bit shyly.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation Lee comes flip-flopping from the Mansion, totally done up for a day at the lake. She wears a black bikini top under a neon pink t-shirt that has been cut at the neckline to reveal her shoulders, and hemmed sloppily to reveal her midriff. Denim cutoff shorts are apparently popular today, too. Black Ray Ban sunglasses and a girlish ponytail complete the look. She has a towel, a backpack, and a wrapped present, roughly the size of a large book. Jubilee brings a frantic, chaotic energy as she arrives, bee-lining right for the sand surrounding the lake. She drops her bag and towel and then bounds towards Kitty with the wrapped present. "Happy birthday, Kitty!" she exclaims with a grin. While holding the wrapped gift for Kitty to take, Jubilation stares at Mystique and blows a defiant pink bubble. Her gum pops suddenly and gets slurped back into her mouth -- she just staaaares.

    Once free of the present, Jubes immediately walks back to the lake, giving her hips a little sashay as she moves -- just in case she's being watched. "And, that's a 9.5 from the Chinese judges!" Jubilee shouts across the lake at Kurt before bending down to grab her towel.

Carol Danvers has posed:
For those who are actually trained to look up instead of just at eye level, which is pretty much everyone that has to deal with flying heros.. villains... mutants.. robots.. drones...

Honestly Superman alone did wonders for everyone's situational awareness of the sky....

Anyhow there is a glittering bit of light of a fast approaching object from the heavens, that resolves to a slight trail of cosmic energy and finally a very well known red gold and blue uniform as Carol drops in.

Literally.

Specifically she lands on the dock near Rogue and glances down to her and Jean, nodding and smiling hello "Hey Sugah." to Rogue.

Then she glances at the people further on the whole land side of the party and squiiiints at Mystique and Clarice. "Hmm"

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Even in late July the lake is still refreshingly cool, particularly on a day as warm as this one, and while Kurt could easily teleport himself back out of the water onto the nearby floating raft -- or better yet, back up twenty feet in the air to launch a continuous barrage of broadside cannonballs -- he is a pirate afterall -- he emerges from beneath the surface of the water a moment later, wiping hands back through that indigo fur to clear the water there before paddling over to hop up onto the edge of the floating raft.

Catching Rachel's comment he winks at her and Lockheed. "Oh ye of little faith," he calls back before directing his gaze towards the shore and Jubilation. "I am very popular in Asia," he calls back lightheartedly, stretching out there on the raft, arms and legs splayed out as the warm sun beats down.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde looks over towards Rogue to say of Rahne, "Oh she can manage a little more still. Though you get to pick up everyone who passes out down here and get them back to their beds," she teases.

Kitty turns back to Jean's gift then. "Well, if it'll help with the party," she says, and then begins pulling the wrapping paper off. The revealed present is little ice cream/malt stand. "Oh wow, I used to go to one of these just down the road from my old elementary school!" Kitty says, not quite making the connection yet this might be that very stand. "Jean, it's wonderful!" she says, moving over to give the redhead a quick, grateful hug. "Well, malted milks are on the beverage list now," she tells everyone.

One of the school staff helping with the party moves over to start making malted shakes. Kitty picks up Clarice's card, though Jubilee's arrival delays Kitty looking at it. "Hey Jubes!" she says warmly. "Thank you!" And Hank got a big smile as he wished her happy birthday in Hebrew.

Kitty turns back to the card and opens it. She reads down it and laughs. "That's great," she says, holding it up so people can see the contents of Clarice's card:


#include <iostream>

using namespace sbd;

int main()
int age=20,date=20210725;
while(true) {
  if(DATE==20210725){
   age++;
   cout<<"Happy birthday!!"<<endl;
  }
  date++;
}

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne, looking a bit less like a bedgraggled woods girl, gives Clarice a smile of thanks. She does the same for Kitty, though she has yet to really -say- anything. Not counting the under-the-counter cussing when she was battling for freedom.

She lowers her eyes, her smile arching upward, and stays her normal self even though she's left the group. Or has she? She seems to still be welcomed.

"Ah'll meet anyone," she says as she nods a little, a subdued movement from a subdued girl. The flying person gets her eyes tracking; to be fair, she tries to look and see anyone on arrival. The presents, the card, they all get a look. What does she think? Well, Kitty deserves it all, so...hard to tell.

She leans closer to Clarice, then whispers, "Ah didnae bring a present.."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I imagine no one will care," Clarice answers Rahne quietly. Hell, she was fairly certain Mystique only came and brought a gift because she's trying to bridge the gap the Brotherhood's actions had made between the two groups. "I think I saw chips and dips," she adds eagerly. "We should go get some before some hungry students eat it all." She gives Rahne's hand a gentle tug to lead her back towards the party, before calling brightly towards Kitty, "Hey, Kitty! Look, Rahne came back to celebrate!"
    The look she gives Rahne after that brash exclimation has more mischief than apology in it - but that's Clarice for you.
    "Do you like swimming?" she asks curiously as they head towards the group gathered by the lake - her attention briefly stolen by the airborne arrival of Carol Danvers.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde turns to greet Mystique then as she sets the card down on the table with the gifts. "Thank you, Raven," Kitty tells her. "Nice to see you out here. There should be some malted shakes in a few minutes," she says, glancing at the cart. Kitty pauses again, expression curious as she looks at the cart more closely for a moment, then shaking her head like she thinks she's just imagining something.

A look up is enough to spot Carol flying down to join them. Kitty's face lights up. "Carol!" she calls over to her, raising a hand to wave her way. "I set out some water skis in case anyone wants to talk Rogue into taking them skiing. Same goes for you thought if you want," Kitty says to the blond Avenger.

Kitty turns back to the gifts, opening Clarice's and saying, "Oh, this will come in handy," as she sees where the gift certificate is for. Then she opens Mystique's. "Oh, I've been wanting to try one of these out," she says, turning the gadget over. Already probably planning on taking it apart to check out exactly how it works, no doubt.

Jean Grey has posed:
Kitty gets a squeeze in return, although there's a touch of smugness in Jean's smile as the young woman hasn't quite put 2+2 together yet. "What to get the girl who's boyfriend can get her anything, right? But I remembered you liked that place." Smallvoice: "And it was kind of our fault it got wrecked that one time..." LALALA. The X-Men have some weird history.

But the birthday gal has plenty of presents to deal with, so she leaves Kitty to return to her whirlwind effort, while focusing back on Rogue and company. Company, at first, means Jeepers, who she leans forward to reach a hand down and give some proper head-scritches. This means that as much as she may be among those with more familiarity of the world above their heads, she doesn't notice Carol descending on them until she's quite a bit closer, straightening back up with rather enthusiastic surprise. "Carol! Great you could make it. But you're overdressed," she scolds, with laugh. Insert old costume joke here.

Of course, not evertything is sunshine and rainbows.

Quickly enough, the newly-arrived woman's attention turns toward one of their less typical guests, no doubt with some accompanying mental stormclouds, the latter all the more obvious to Jean. So she's quickly reassuring: "We've got a bit of a truce with them, at the moment. So, well, they're invited. More or less." She looks between her and Rogue. "Wanna grab a boat? A little one for now, until you get that yacht."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
It's very hard to miss someone flying in, especially when you're the type to look up, a lost. Mystique watches Danvers move across the sky then come in to land on the earth once more. She didn't miss the look her way, how could she miss it given she was watching the woman. In return for the scowl offered, the cobalt mutant smiles. Clearly someone hadn't heard the latest news regarding the truce between the Brotherhood and Xavier's.

Her attention goes back to Kitty and the smile brightens, "I have another one, if after you take that one apart it fails to cooperate and work again, you are welcome to it as well." She offers, then finally steps back and away from Kitty.

Turning, she walks toward the water for a moment, letting her eyes settling on Kurt. For one brief moment something flashes across her face, then it is gone. Taking a deep breath, she shakes her head slowly, then starts to walk away from the party toward the location that she and Clarice appeared at. "Clarice, contact Ritz when you are ready to return," she says toward the purple mutants, then takes something in her pocket and a white portal appears. No other words are offered, she steps through the portal and is gone.

Carol Danvers has posed:
Carol absolutely keeps her eyes on Mystique while she is wishing Kitty a happy birthday and all that business. Also the present. Which isn't a bomb evidently. Good. It is the visual demeanor of the whole pointing two fingers at your eyes and back at someone else though without doing the full gesture.

Yes there is a lot of history there.

Also yes Mystique actually helped her find Rogue which led to undoing a lot of the problems Carol had from that history. For reasons Carol is still not sure of.

Mixed messages really from the shapeshifter as far as Carol is concerned..... but the Brotherhood seems welcome at the party so.... Okay.

Finally a smile to Kitty "I suppose I could take someone water skiing..." which sounds pretty wild and funny honestly. She reaches around to a satchel and pulls out a package wrapped by hand in some shiny sort of metallic looking fabric. It is abit under a foot by half that across in the bundled fabric. "Try not to hurt anyone that doesn't deserve it." she notes to Kitty.

There is a glance to Jean and she shimmers, a cascade of cosmic energy and her flightsuit/Captain Marvel uniform is replaced with a captain marvel colored one piece swimsuit. "Better Jean?" teasing back.

Rogue has posed:
Jeepers stands up when Carol is getting closer in the sky, he saw her quicker than anyone else, so it seems. He even barks once before she lands like a fireball beside the Belle who smiles up at her. "Heya, Pretty Lady." The southern girl says back to the Captain. She reaches up a gloved hand to offer her a hi-5 too. "Welcome to the party. Birthday girl is getting all her gifts still, so you made it just in time." Rogue's eyes go over to Jean then. "Sounds like fun t'me."

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne looks up as Mystique vanishes. She lifts a hand, opening her mouth to call out, but as per usual her introverted personality sets her back. She missed the chance, and sighs a little.

A moment later she's moving with Clarice though, having made pretty good friends with the purple recently. She kind of leans away from the chips and dip though, aiming for anything with food value. Like, you know. Barbecue.

"So hungry," she says softly. She takes a plate, she takes something she can nom, and then looks up to see if she's actually allowed. Afterward. You know, because that's how it works.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
The sound most likely gives her away long before she can be seen, a loud and constant buzzing. Then it is a bee here, a bee there, checking out the people around the lake, but not landing on anyone or getting in their faces. Dyani didn't need that any more thanks to Hank's hard work. The bees are first, then from the sky the little mutant comes flying in with a squeal of glee, "WE CAN SEE!"

Diving down toward Hank, no risk of running into him because she can actually see him, she lands near him and repeats her exclamation of joy, "WE CAN SEE!" and then Hank is hugged, well one his legs is. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Rachel Summers has posed:
"I have all the faith in the world of you, Kurt!"

No, Rachel was not drunk. But she was soaking up the happiness and lightheartedness of the situation, even if eventually she'll get repeatedly splashed. But with Lockheed to 'care' for, Rachel finally sits up upon her water raft, leaning just a little to push against the water to set her sailing at a slow pace without the use of her gifts.

"Eventually, we're going to have to go to shore." She says to the little friend, now looking around at those gathered behind her shaded eyes. With a gentle lift of Lockheed to place him upon the raft, Rachel now folds her legs to plant her elbows upon her knees to watch everyone congregate, laugh and eat.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Yeah, boss," Clarice answers Mystique brightly, letting out a sigh and rolling her eyes as the woman disapppears. "I think she's uncomfortable around here," she explains to Rahne. I mean - is it really any surprise, given the history, and Rogue being here - and Carol as well, now?
    "But you can meet her on the Asteroid sometime." She helps herself to an unhealthy portion size of chips and dip, while Rahne settles in with her plate of barbeque meats. She even manages to eat some of it before Dyani makes her rather dramatic entrance. A smile of amusement grows on Clarice's features - before she jumps easily up onto the table to announce brightly, "If no one minds... I suppose this is as good a time as any to very publicly thank Dr McCoy and Kitty for all the effort they put in together to making the goggles that allow Dyani to see normally - and read - once more. I think I can speak on behalf of myself and Dyani's parents when I say we can never really repay both of you for that kindness."
    Clarice starts clapping - assuming others will join in, and not particularly caring if they do or not - as she jumps back down from the table.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
For those who don't know, Dyani has numerous, see also nearly hundreds of bees around and on her. They aren't all visible at once, but they are there one way or another. Some fly around looking to see if there is anything good to eat, others remain close to her, no longer flying in circles due to the new visor... that was a confusing few hours for Dyani and the bees. It all seems to have worked out in the end as she can see with the visor and the bees are flying in straight lines.

Once Hank has his hug for all the work he did, his arm gets petted a few times, then she zooms over to the gift table and places a small jar of ooey, gooey, amber colored honey on it. Once she's sure that's not getting knocked over, she zooms over to Clarice and hugs her.

"We can see, Clarice! We can see everything, and the bees don't fly in circles any more, and we made honey for Kitty!"

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry grins as he hears the buzzing, the sound heralding the arrival of Dyani. As the young woman hugs him, he chuckles. A bend to the side and he returns the hug. "Fantastic! Kitty and I worked on them earlier this week - even Lockheed was helping." The man nods to Dyani. "You are very welcome. No problems with the settings, correct?"

As Clarice offers over her praise, it's easy to see that the Beast is embarassed - his foot scuffing in the grass. "It is the least I can do, Clarice. Dyani, and all of us, deserve the best lives we can have." A nod to those present. "Kitty's expertise in software made it work so much better than I had hoped."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "You're popular here, too!" Jubilee chirps back at Kurt.

    She smirks and then lowers herself onto her towel before kicking off both of her flip-flops. Jubilation lies back and bends one of her legs at the knee, determined to enjoy the lake as much as possible. She can lie there and ignore Captain Marvel and even Lockheed. She'd kick herself later for missing the opportunity to ask Rahne how she's doing on the outside. But... there's one thing she can't ignore. One voice. Jubilation sits up and turns. She lowers her sunglasses and then rolls her eyes. "Get off the table!" she shouts, one hand brought up to her mouth to amplify. "People have to eat off of that!" There. With that settled, Jubilation opens up her backpack to find her sunblock.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Much!" Jean declares, in response to Carol's quick-change demonstration. Although for SOME reason, she feels compelled to point out: "I can totally do that too."

Hmph.

Is this the supowered equivalent of seeing someone wore the same thing to a party that you did, except where same is 'infinite variations at whim?'

Totally manufactured and non-serious fashion squabbles aside, Jean glances between the pair and then out to the water, and finally starts ambling down a bit closer to the docks. "I was thinking we could try and see if we could manage one of the sailboats," she begins, "But if you wanna race jetskis, I'm game." A meaningful look ensues. Is this to be another chapter in Rogue and Jean's ongoing sports rivalry?!

Oh, clapping? Yes, clapping!

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde watches as Dyani comes flying down and delivers the big hug to Beast. It draws a beautiful smile out of the young woman. Kitty turns towards Clarice as she mentions the goggles as well. "Was mostly Hank's work, I just helped out," Kitty says. "But glad to see it's working well for her," Kitty says, turning her smile back to Dyani, and then over to Hank to congratulate him on a job well done.

The cart whirs and the first malted shake comes out. It's handed over to Kitty who sucks on the straw to get a taste. "Wow this takes me back," she says. And then what Jean said hits home. "Oh my god, that's it! That's the cart," she says, eyes widening. Jean earns herself another tight hug. "Wow. That is so great. Thank you!" she says brightly.

After letting the redhead out of the bear hug, Kitty turns back to the others. "Thank you Dyani, love honey on these rolls that Warren makes. That's perfect," she says. And then Carol is handing her the metal mesh-wrapped gift. An eyebrow goes up slightly, and Kitty carefully opens it and draws out a hilt, like to a sword. She turns it over, eyeing it closely, and glancing to Carol, as if maybe Kitty has an inkling. "If this is a lightsaber," she says with a grin. She holds it away from herself and hits the button she feels on the hilt. An energy sword springs into life, making Kitty gasp.

https://i.imgur.com/Z2DidzI.jpg

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko shows up holding her flip flops, towel, and a tote.  A small square present with an insane (bored) amount of curly ribbon piled on top appears somewhere near Kitty.  Inside is what could only be a coaster given the size, walnut by the looks of it.  It is made up, by hand, to be some kind of coin and has things like the word 'genuine' and '100% pure' etched in tiny neat print along the perimeter.  One one side is a 1.  On the other is a 0.  The note attached says, 'I hear this is worth something.  Nori.'

The speedster has on a pair of hot blue short shorts over her bikini bottoms and didn't bother with grabbing a shirt.  Her bikini is black with what looks like a bad photoshop job of a google search for 'lazers' shooting across it.  Lots and lots of lasers.  Her hair is back to its electric blue shade.

She blurs over to the food even with all of her stuff in tow in a moment of distracted weakness before catching up with Jubes, which includes her food popping up into view on the end of Jubilee's towel as Noriko unloads her arms.  Pop!  Pop pop!  Food.  Foooooood.  People come second.  Kitty got her gift right?  Noriko wonders to herself, pausing with half an armful of food as she straightens up on her knees like a meerkat, looking for the birthday woman.  Then suddenly Jubes gets a smile.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
What was this?! Dyani didn't know that Kitty was involved until just then, and then she is zooming over to grab the woman in a hug, unless Kitty dodges of course and it will take dodging. The bees do not land on Kitty however, they don't need to any more, they can just fly merrily about.

"We can see! Thank you, Kitty! We haven't seen in a long, long, long time! We can make you more honey, we are building more hives out in the forest, away from the school, so they cannot bother anyone, not that they would because I would not let them." Now she breaths.

"If I have enough hives I can make lots and lots of honey for everyone! We like making honey, it keeps the bees very busy and less bored, bored bees are the worst." She offers a positively huge smile up at Kitty, then breaks the hug to zoom back over by Clarice, however she does not hug her again, she just stands there, looking at her.

"Do you know how to swim Clarice? We do not, we do not like water, it makes our wings droopy."

Carol Danvers has posed:
Carol has no issue with joining some clapping about Hank and Kitty helping a kid with a lot of bees see. This is the kind of good science work that makes her very fond of Xaviers after all.

So much clapping, especially since it seems to embarass Hank. Bonus points.

Then to Kitty after she absolutely fires up the energy sword from the hilt in her hand. "I mean.. no not a lightsaber. It's a Kree Energy sword. The technology behind it is a lot more akin to a nano-edged forceshield than a directed plasma sword held together by forcefields..."

Nerd.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice returns the hug from Dyani - and grins as the girl darts off again to hug Kitty. Kitty's more than earned the hug, after all, and she's not going to argue about 'consent' in a moment like this. She's already back in her seat by the time she looks towards Jubilee, rolling her eyes widely in response.
    "I do know how to swim. I learned when I was really little - since I grew up on an island. I can't remember a time when I //couldn't// swim," she admits. "I didn't know the water bothers your wings, though." Which seems like a shame to her. "But I'm sure there will be other things to do. There's music - maybe people will start dancing?" she suggests in a bright, friendly tone.

Xi'An Coy Manh has posed:
Shan descends from up towards the manor. She is carrying a tote bag in one hand, apparently heavily laden. She is in a red one-piece swimsuit with an asymmetrical neckline and an abdominal cut-out, along with the inevitable beach flops. She has gotten close enough to get a good look at -

"My God! Is that a laser sword?" Shan exclaims. She laughs afterwards. Surely no ill can come from this.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Both Jubilation and Rachel get a grin from the fuzzy blue elf as he suns himself on that floating raft, that fine indigo fur slowly drying enough that he will be fit to join those back on shore before too long. Of course he could always just pop over and shake himself dry somewhere stragetic, but that seems just a little beneath his dignity.

The soft creaking of the planks floating on the water and the sound of the lake lapping up against the various boats and jetskis sitting at rest by the shore is particularly soothing, and the fuzzy teleporter lingers a little longer then intended out on that raft. But the sun is high in the sky, there will be plenty of time to go for another dip and Kurt is getting thirsty so he hops back to his feet, moves to the edge of the raft as if about to step and fall into the water. But when he does step forward he is abruptly engulfed in a cloud of inky smoke.

He does not immediately reappear, instead popping back into existence a couple of minutes later by the coolers and grills, towel draped around his shoulder.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde tells Carol, "It's close enough!" She lets out a delighted giggle and gives it a few swings. "Near to weightless," she comments at how easily she can move it. But she turns it off then and returns it to the wrapping, which is good as Dyani is closing in for a hug!

Kitty returns the hug warmly. "Glad we were able to help," Kitty tells her with a soft smile. "And I'm glad that you seem to be settling in well. The school is a home for many of us. I hoped you'd find it to be the same for you," she says.

Kitty turns towards Xi'an. "Shan! It is, from Carol," she says, offering it over for Xi'an to take a look if she'd like. Then there are a few more wrapped presents to open. Kitty opens one up and holds it up. A vintage boxed edition of 'Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing'. Except the 'T' has been turned into a 'W' with a Sharpie. It brings a warm laugh from Kitty. "Someone's been peeking at my wishlist," she says, flashing a grateful smile over to Jubilee.

The suddenly appearing, well-ribboned gift is picked up, Kitty unwrapping it and revealing the handmade walnut 'coin'. She looks at it, turning it over to see the other sides. "Binary," she murmurs to herself, before she gets it. "Ah. A bitcoin!?" she asks, looking around and spotting Nori there. "Thank you, I love it," she says.

Jean Grey has posed:
Now that Kitty has finally caught on, Jean's smile goes full strength, beaming at her younger friend as she zips over for hugging, round two. "Happy to do it. And I figure it'll get some good use in this heat."

And maybe Jean would be feeling very confident in her gift selection if it wasn't for what comes next.

"You got her a lightsaber?!" Her reaction is as much awe and shock as anything, and involves a quick back and forth look between gift-giver and recipient. The weapon comes to life. "That really looks like a lightsaber!" she declares, regardless of Carol correcting them on the proper terminology. And as Xi'an arrives, voicing the same thought, Jean looks to her with a wide-eyed, 'are you seeing this?!' kind of expression. There is perhaps a matching psychic layer beneath, very much on a similar sort of theme.

"I never thought I'd have to say this, but... new rule, no lightsaber or whatever-you-said nanoforcefield sword duels during student events." Of course, they're probably safe unless Carol brought along another one.

What is her life, even?

Carol Danvers has posed:
"Pfft if I can't abuse my connections and leadership position in S.W.O.R.D. to give people not even legally allowed to drink laser swords I am not sure what the world has come too..."

There is a pause. "But okay no more deadly weapons at student events..." she admits that is probably a pretty good rule.

Grudgingly.

"To be honest I punched this Kree up one side his ship and down the otherside and took the sword as a trophy... I recall how much Kitty likes sword fighting so..." a bit of a helpless shrug.

Her perspective on normal may not be the norm.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry watches Dyani with a bit of satisfaction - noting how easily she moves among people now. A job well done! The shout from Jubilee to Clarice causes a momentary look of concern, but that quickly passes. Then someone is being inducted into the Jedi order. "Is that from Vulcan? One of their Pon'far weapons?" He teases over to Kitty, offering a nod to Carol in appreciation of the gift.

Those arriving more recently, get a wave and a smile. "Food. Must have food." He's ignored the tasty treats for too long - the big man moving over to the table and starting to fix himself a plate.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I got that in the weird Mogwai junk shop in New York -- same one where I found a whole family of Furby's!" Jubilee shouts in Kitty's direction. She smiles brightly and then turns to watch Noriko appear...and then food appear. She rolllllls her eyes with a grin. "Of course," she mutters, good-naturedly. She scoots to make room for Noriko and her food delivery. "Hey, Nori..." she whispers, directing an index finger in Dyani's direction. "That's the one I was talking about before..." Jubilation sits up and waves her hand in Dyani's direction.

    "Hey! Hey! C'mere!" she shouts at Dyani with a grin.

Xi'An Coy Manh has posed:
Shan's psychic reply to Jean is pretty much the equivalent of 'I KNOW RIGHT????' and as she comes up close, she is handed the lightsaber. She turns it around and - with what is obviously great caution - raises it above her head to power it on for a moment.

She wiggles it a little to see if it makes the noise, then turns it back off. Proffering it back to Kitty, she states: "Remember that fear leads to anger, and that anger leads to hate, and so on."

Shan smiles to Kitty then, and says, "I hope this one will be entertaining, if less bloody than defense of the Old Republic." The tote bag is set down with the rest of the presents. It clonks a little. (When Kitty gets round to it, it contains the first four books in 'Haydee les filles du temps,' a Francophilic pastiche series set in the very end of the 19th century, and a blu-ray collection of the BBC adaptation of the first two books. Also, a bottle of pinot noir, which Shan adroitly removes after hearing what Carol said.)

"Does it need a charger or anything?" she asks Carol while moving to get out of the recieving line.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice's attention shifts towards Jubilee at the girl's shout - an uncertain look on her features. Her experiences with the girl, after all, have been rather unpleasant. But... Dyani needs to make friends at the school.
    She looks from Jubilee, back towards Dyani as she asks quietly, "Do you want to go sit with them? I don't mind," she suggests quietly. "But if they're at all unkind, you just let me know. Hmmm?" She nudges the girl beside her encouragingly, before going in for more chips and dip off her plate, and munching away happily.

Rachel Summers has posed:
Well, Rachel wants a damn sword! Rachel wants to punch a Kree and take the sword as a trophy! Dang! But Rachel was happy for Kitty, even the strange mutant Dyani, light claps go around for them as she carefully lifts herself from her raft, still seated, now in middair. Her feet carefully touch down upon the water as she begins to walk across it, careful to keep the concentration so that she could make it to the food areas.

While Rachel didn't have a gift to give, due to being broke and taking no cases, she'll make it up to Kitty -eventually- with something clever.

Like a book or something. With pictures.

"It probably needs to be charged on the surface of the sun." Rachel jokes towards Xi'an as she passes, her path taking her right towards the stand so that she could get herself a cold malt. "Or charged by the power of puppy giggles or something.." That one was muttered to herself.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
Dyani keeps looking toward the water, because she can see it! That will not get old for her, not any time soon anyway. She can see someone floating on the water, and someone sitting by the dock, and the boats and if asked, she swears she saw a fish leap out of the water.

Very slowly her head turns to look around as she looks away from the water to all the people. So many of them, faces she hadn't seen clearly that she could now put to the voices she had heard. Flying up and lands on the table to keep looking around, face to face, studying each intently.

"No Mister Hank, we are having no troubles at all with vis-oggles, Gog-sor?" She giggles a ltitle at the made up names, then finally spots the face she'd been looking for. Standing on the table that Clarice was by, she stares across at Jubilee.

"No Clarice, we will stay here with you. We do not need friends who are mean, we have had enough of those in our life."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
A warm laugh is given by Kitty. "Promise I'll save the laser sword fights for staff meetings," she tells Jean. Kitty sets the bitcoin back on the table so it doesn't get misplaced, then picks up another gift. She checks the note on it and smiles over to Hank as it seems to be from him.

Kitty opens it up and pulls out a jewelry box which she opens, revealing a silver necklace. It has a pendant on it with Hebrew writing. Kitty reads it and lights up, then for others watching, reads it first in Hebrew, and then translates it:

"Yevarechecha Adonai Veyishmarecha. Yaer Adonai Panav Elecha Vayichuneka. Yisah Adonai Panav Elecha Veyasem Lecha Shalom. May God bless you and guard you. May He shine His face on you and show you favor. May God lift His face to you and give you peace."

Kitty turns to smile to Hank and lean over to give him another quick hug. "Thank you Hank," she tells him. She takes the sword back from Xi'an, it being more like the Mandalorian's energy sword than a light saber. She's careful with it though, setting it where it won't have anyone bumping into it or anything.

Kitty takes the tote bag from Xi'an then. She opens it up and checks inside. The girl with the English Literature degree grins as she sees what's inside. "Oh, nice!" Kitty says. "Thanks Shan, I can't wait to dig into this," she says of the books and the live version.

"Hey, no need to pull that back. Warren and I have wine all the time," she says. "Just, you know, not out in public unless it's a restaurant."

Kitty looks over, seeing Rachel sitting there hovering. "Your birthday isn't too far away, is it? Couple of months?" Kitty asks.

Carol Danvers has posed:
To Xi'an and Rachel since they asked "Oh.. actually it shouldn't need charging. Like the Kree pistols and rifles they run off a fusion battery in the hilt. If it actually konks out though I can get a replacement for it or just juice it back up myself."

Okay that actually may be worse than the laser sword.

Damn aliens and their technologies.

"Oh.. are they making malted milkshakes?" peering after Rachel and the malts. "That is brilliant." stepping after her to get herself one of those too.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation squints, even from behind her Ray Bans. She's on the other side of the gathering, over on the beach, but she can see Clarice muttering something to Dyani, her response, and then... nothing. What the hell. Jubes tilts her head towards Nori, only briefly, before standing up and brushing her legs of any errant sand. "I think we're getting snubbed," Jubilation mutters at Noriko. "Hold on."

    Jubes adjusts her sunglasses and then walks towards Dyani and Clarice. "Hey!" she says, just a touch louder than normal, but oozing with friendliness. "I'm Jubilation! Over there, that's Nori. Wanna come sit by the lake? We have snacks and food and stuff."

    All of that is directed at Dyani. Clarice is completely ignored.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Oh, I trust KITTY with it," Jean tells Carol.

There is no follow up. No 'but.' No qualifier of any kind.

Yep. Kitty and no one else! The rest of 'em would put their eyes out! Even the senior X-Men at staff meetings, probably.

At this stage, she has perhaps abandonned her prior ambitions to get out on the lake as there is a bit more of a congregation around the food area -- and even her own gift, which is no doubt gratifying. Indeed, she quickly exercises the old tradition of enjoying the gift you got for someone else, ending up in line behind Rachel to make herself one of the cold treats. "Yeah, malt machine was mine," she explains to Carol who also seems interested in it. "I thought it would be hard to top. If only I'd thought of putting a fusion battery in the darn thing, huh?" She laughs.

But there's another tidbit that catches her attention, as they all chatter and Kitty mentions Rachel's birthday. "Is it?" she asks, reflexively, and then... immediately looks a little awkward. Is that something she should know? Is she a bad not-mom for not knowing?

Low-key psychic woe exudes, briefly. Freaking time travel.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
Dyani remains standing on the table, it's really the only way she can see without being constantly in flight. She had looked back to Clarice when she spoke to her, but her head jerks up when she hears the same voice that shouted before, shouting again... and apparently, at her. It may be friendly, but it still surprised her. Her wings flutter a couple of times and her head tilts, her brain attempting to process this sudden attention.

In reaction to her nervousness, the bees begin zipping in from the various places they had been, swirling around and landing on her. Again her wings flutter and she takes a step back, as if Jubilee is already right there, too close, talking to her.

Without any warning or even a single word, she jumps off the table and moves to sit beside, behind Clarice, staring at Jubilee. Once there she calls out, "We're good thank you, we're with our hive."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice gives Dyani an amused smile at her response. "It's possible she just mistrusts me," she informs the girl. "Plenty of people have unfortunate histories with the Brotherhood."
    As Dyani retreats to being at her side - Clarice puts an arm reassuringly around the younger girl, giving her an encouraging smile. "If you want to try sitting and talking with the other students - I could move to sit there with you?" she suggests - before turning her attention to Jubilee.
    "Or you'd be welcome to join us. I'm up to date on all my shots - and I don't bite. Not students, anyways," she remarks - perhaps a bit teasing. But sometimes she just can't help herself.

Xi'An Coy Manh has posed:
"Oh, well... alright then. I suppose you didn't buy it," says Shan, who puts the bottle of wine back with it. "Just don't drink it all in one place."

She is updated on what powers these things by Carol, alongside Rachel, and it is to Rachel that Shan glances first, then answers Carol: "Another question... if it gets wet, what happens?"

Another question crosses over. The question of birthdays. Shan's powerful combination of 'okay telepathic power' and 'well honed nerd sensitivity to an instructor' lets her twig to this issue, and she asks Rachel, "What is the exact date? We can plan something now, to surprise you later. What are your feelings about cake?"

Shan also eyes the milkshake dispenser with thought, but not yet action.

Rachel Summers has posed:
"Yeeeaaahhhh..." Rachel says to Kitty, while waiting on her malt. "But I don't think I'm going to do anything special. Probably try to find more work." Lame. But what could you do? "I mean, I think I want to go bowling.."

At Carol's answer in regards to the charging capability of the sword, if Rachel didn't have good shock control she would probably knock over the malt stand. Her mouth opened, then snapped shut really quick, her brows lifting towards the ceiling as she turns away from the gathering.

'Does this mean it forever works until it breaks'? If someone was looking, Rachel closed her eyes and bit her fist.

As Carol joins her in line, she gestures towards one of the staff members manning the malt stand. "I got one that his peanut butter drizzle and nutella. It's really bad for you. But I think I saw a pack of reeses pieces somewhere I can add to it for extra death.."

Rachel flinches just a little as Jean pitches a tiny 'woe', one that has her blanching and reaching to snatch her malt as it was made, spilling a slight portion of whipped topping. "Oh oh oh sorry! WHOOPS!" Even Xi'an's line of questioning about her birthday gets a rather awkward laugh. "I.. I love cake. All sorts of cake.. I mean, truth be told it's really not necessary to celebrate.. It's just a day, am-i-right?"

Cue awkward laughter, and Rachel shuffling off backwards toward a bush..

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko appears to lean suddenly, pausing like a squirrel to conspicuously spot Dyani and subsequently, Clarice.  "Oh?" she responds softly to Jubes pointing Dyani out.  Her expression doesn't change.  It's hard to tell what Nori is really thinking when she's hungry.  "Cool."  Even she would know it's an odd thing to say, but she's already eating.  "Wait, what?"

"-D-" Noriko stops herself from saying something to Jubes' back, something she likely would regret and certainly doesn't consider important enough to change her mind.  She flops back indiscriminantly, beaching herself like a whale after stuffing herself and watches the conversation between Jubes and the others from afar and what little reactions she can pick up on.

Henry McCoy has posed:
The inter-personal back and forth between Dyani, Clarice, Jubilee and Noriko has a look of concern on Henry's face. He understands the tension, though he wishes it weren't so. There are some things that science cannot rememdy - those things have to mend on their own. He takes up his plate of food, giving a return hug to Kitty. "I thought it fitting - and it is truly a wish I have for you." He smiles, in regards to the pendant.

The big blue man finds himself a seat, settling in to dig into his plate of goodies.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation stares in disbelief as she hears Clarice summarize the complicated mutant politics as 'plenty of people have unfortunate histories with the Brotherhood.' And, as a woman of the world who clearly knows everything and is expertly skilled at balancing the subtle nuance of it all, Jubilation folds her arms across her chest. Clarice, once again, gets ignored. She manufactures a smile for Dyani and gestures again towards the towel that's been set up at the lake.

    "Right, well, your hive is a little bigger now," Jubilee replies sweetly. "Let me introduce you." Clarice, again, is totally ignored.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde has finished off the gifts, setting everything back on the table for safe-keeping. "I could use a bit of that nice cool lake water myself," she says. The warm sun is lowering in the sky, though it's still quite a warm day. "When the sun is down, I've got a projector. We can show a movie on the side of the boat house. Have our choice of course. I was thinking maybe Star Wars. Or Rocky Horror Picture Show. Or if anyone has a preference," Kitty says.

She undoes the wrap that she's had about her hips, setting it aside as she heads over to the lake wearing her red bikini. She trots out on the dock to where the water is deeper and then drives into the water gracefully, coming up soon after. "Oh that's nice," she says with a grin."

Jean Grey has posed:
Awkwardness begets awkwardness, as is so often the case.

Moreso among telepaths, where it's pretty easy to hit an accidental spiral: feel bad, then they feel you feeling bad, and you feel their reaction and... yeah. FUN RIGHT? Jean, being fairly disciplined, manages to avoid the very worst of this, although she does it by promptly bringing down 'the wall,' closing off her thoughts and blocking external ones in a rather brute force manner.

Instead, she focuses on the 'real' world, on more normal modes of non-disfunctional interaction, glancing between Rachel, Kitty and Shan. "We don't need to have any kind of big party," she offers, in a quick reassurance, "But it might be nice to at least have some kind of a small celebration. You know, just to- well, just to do it. But it's really up to you. If you wouldn't be comfortable, it's fine." She makes that clear, and otherwise stands waiting for the opportunity to get herself one of the malts.

Then? It's a casual retreat, back down to the dock, to explore her options for aquatic adventure slash escape from awkward trans-temporal family drama.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
Dyani's wings start twitching behind her, twitch then flutter, then twitch again as she looks at Jubilation.

"No, no you are not hive. Clarice is hive, our human mother and father are hive, you... you are not hive."

Sitting so close to Clarice she picks up on a change in the purple mutant, pheromones' shifting, body language changing, and almost immediately upon sensing this, the bees begin landing on Clarice as well.

"You are rude Jubilation," she states bluntly finally. "So very rude, you speak to us but you ignore our hive, you ignore Clarice. We do not accept this, we do not like this. We can offer you a chance to apologize to Clarice however."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "You have to make friends at the school, Dyani," Clarice offers quietly - encouraging the other girl with a small smile. "But - there will be other kids around. You know I can't drop in more than once a week or so - and I'd rather you weren't lonely while I'm away." She gives the girl an encouaging squeeze.
    "I //want// you to have a proper chance at life. Yeah? That's why your parents and I thought enrolling you here was such a good idea. Have you made friends yet? Other than with Dr. McCoy?" she hastily adds - knowing her fondness for the blue-furred mutant.

Carol Danvers has posed:
"Most of the Kree and Shi'ar ... also Xandar tech uses cells or batteries like that to be honest..." she considers that for a moment. "Honestly none of the system spanning empires uses fossil fuels or even green energy... well unless you count small dyson spheres as green. I mean .. they are pretty environmentally sustainable...." at which point she trails off.

Right.

"It should be fine in the water... vacume... dust planet.. mud... it is a weapon of war. It isn't fragile."

She eyes the malt options. "I will totally have what she is having." indicating Rachel and her ice cream life choices. Then she glances at Jean "Good call on the present."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation's eyebrows rise above the top of her Ray Ban sunglasses. Rude? Her? What evidence would Dyani even have of that? Is this girl really refusing to come get to know the other students because Jubilation shouted for Clarice to get off the table? Jubilation shrugs her shoulders and adjusts her sunglasses so that they're completely straight on her nose while she stares at Dyani. "You..." she begins, matching Dyani's tone. "...don't know me."

    "You don't know me, you've never met me. This is literally the first time you're talking to me," Jubilee explains. She shrugs her shoulders. "I wanted to introduce you to some of the other students. So you could make friends. Get to know people." She reaches up and removes her Ray-Bans so she can stare right at Dyani, still ignoring anything Clarice has to say. "It's fine if you don't want to -- but don't be telling people they're rude when you don't know anything about them. It's not really the best way to start off." Jubilee turns and walks back to the edge of the lake and starts shoving Noriko's food off of her blanket so she can pack it up.

Xi'An Coy Manh has posed:
Shan looks at Rachel for several seconds, then says, with a nod of the head, "Sure, of course. Whatever it is you'd like. It is your day, whatever it is, eh?" She smiles, a little, and then looks towards Kitty, PAST Kitty, towards Dyani and Nori and Jubilation.

Carol provides context. "Good to know... a dyson sphere, really? You can actually make them without force fields or something? Amazing," Shan remarks to her, before adding in a quieter tone of voice, "Speaking of exotic reactions, I must step over, I think, but I hope to see you later."

With this Shan begins walking over towards Dyani and Jubilee. She does not make haste, perhaps so that it does not read as Correction.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
Dyani's entire body starts vibrating, the bees around her starting to buzz angrily. Very slowly she stands up and looks after Jubilation before shouting, "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT US EITHER!"

Clarice has never heard Dyani raise her voice like, in fact no one had, not even her parents. Who did this Jubilation think she was?! Dyani didn't know her, but she could see with her new eyes that she ignored Clarice entirely, like she wasn't there and that is rude. Standing there, vibrating in anger the bees begin to swarm around her, their buzzing getting louder and louder, angrier and angrier, until they are in a frenzy around the tiny mutant.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
And in the background, the little redhead is just picking veggies from the salad. There's a salad? Maybe she brought it herself or something. You'd think she'd have made one that she'd like all of the little bits and bobs of, but she has this odd tendency to try to think of others before herself. So, ...eh.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Hey... hey, Dyani... It's okay. Com'on, it's okay," Clarice says in a voice laced with concern. She stands up next to Dyani, putting her arm around her as she tries to soothe her. "Do you want to go sit with Dr. McCoy?" she suggests - knowing how fond the girl is of petting Hank's blue fur.
    Sorry, Hank, you just got voluntold as a stress relief object.
    "Or do you want to walk over to check on one of the hives?" she suggests - trying to find an option that would calm the other girl.

Henry McCoy has posed:
The raising of voices, the escalation of the tension - it all has Henry's hackles up. "PLEASE." His voice is loud, deep and firm. "This is a celebration of our friend's birthday." His eyes go from Jubilee to Dyani. "Please, let's be civil." His eyes are on Dyani. "We are all a hodge-podge of people with unusual and differing lives. There is no need for animosity." His tone is calm, regardless of his internal emotions. Those who've known him long, can likely see the struggle on his face.

The Beast takes a deep breath. "Dyani, please." He murmurs. "Stand down. There is no need for aggression. Jubilee is not trying to fool or upset you. She and Clarice have had issues in the past. They will sort them out, I am sure."

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
Although the vibration of her body continues, Dyani turns her head to look at Clarice as she speaks, then slowly looks over to Hank. Almost instantly the bees swish off toward their hives in the student gardens and Dyani hugs Clarice close.

"We are sorry," she whimpers. "We are very sorry. You are hive, we are sorry we yelled."

Still clinging to Clarice she looks toward Hank, then Kitty and says more loudly, "We are very sorry, we are not used to people, we do not know how to... we are sorry!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Jubes also finds Noriko there, on her blanket, but by the time she's done shoving the sweets off, Noriko is off of it.  "You ok-?" but she flinches at the eruption of Dyani's shout.  "What happened?"  but then, she presses her lips together and thinks better of it, "Uh, later.  Meant to ask that later," she mumbles quickly as if trying to redo the moment.

All of the speed in the world won't help Noriko determine whether she should go with Jubes or stay, so her attention hovers, laser focus.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "It's okay, Dyani," Clarice soothes the girl gently, returning the hug. "No one's upset with you. And no one expects you to get all of this right - just yet. After everything." She takes in a deep breath, and lets it out slowly before adding in a low whisper, "I was much worse than this after I was rescued. You're doing //well// - and you're going to continue to get better at all of this. Okay? I know you will."
    Her gaze goes to Hank next, giving him a grateful smile, and a nod.
    More loudly she adds, "Now, I meant what I said. Do you want to go sit with Hank for a bit and pet his fur? I don't think he'd mind. Or maybe Rahne can show off her talent for a moment," she suggests, looking to the other mutant with a questioning look.
    "You might be interested in seeing that. Especially now that you see properly."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The sudden outburst from Dyani isn't enough to distract Jubilation from her task: pack up her stuff. She's well outside of earshot. "Fuck this," she mutters quietly to Noriko. "...The new girl thinks I'm a total bitch all because I won't talk to Grimace from the Brotherhood of Murderers." She yanks on the blanket, sending Noriko's selection of snacks flying into the sand. It's not common for the McDonald's Grimace monster to get brought up in such a context, but these are unprecedented times. "I think I'm showing a lot of restraint!" she hisses at Noriko as she stuffs the towel into her backpack. Jubilee zips up the bag and stands, stuffing each foot into its matching flip-flop. "I'm out of here."

    "Happy birthday, Kitty!" Jubilation exclaims, raising her arm in the air as she does. And, with that, she begins to flip-flop back towards the Mansion.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde is out in the lake and seems to have missed most of the exchange between being underwater and the music that's playing. She begins swimming back towards shore, while Lockheed flaps over and circle above her. He glides down and tries to perch on her head, balancing.

The young woman sputters and glances up at him. "Not helping," she tells the dragon as the extra weight tries to push her head below water. Kitty eventually reaches the shore and walks out of the water, going to get a towel and begin drying off.

Xi'An Coy Manh has posed:
The situation resolves itself into a new state by the time Shan gets over there. Shan reaches up to slightly adjust her hairband, before smiling towards Dyani and raising a hand to waggle fingers. But that is it; her eyes move to meet Clarice's for a moment, her eyebrows raising, but that is all preamble to...

Getting at the cold stuff! (Shan awards herself exactly one half cup of potato salad for general heroic efforts. There will be cake later, she presumes.) Along the way, Shan winks at Rahne, and her vegetable theft, but holds her peace otherwise.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
So, there are a few things that Rahne does poorly. One is taking care of shrubberies. Another is conflict. She walks to the edge of the water, hunching down a little, and is watching when Kitty comes out. She has on her shorts, her simple top, and has apparently ditched the backpack someplace.

She gives Kitty her smile, the one where she seems just slightly sad but warm,and strong. Just that. Nothing to worry over, nothing to fight.

Eh. She's herself after all.

Dyani Zitkala has posed:
Not quite ready to let go of Clarice, Dyani keeps her rather tight hold for a few moments longer then finally lets her go with one more quiet, "Sorry."

Once she lets go of Clarice she starts inching her way toward Hank, a little torn about leaving her hive, but she decides it's probably for the better and zooms over to cling to Hank instead. It's a quick cling, before she lets go and starts petting his arm. Who knew hank would end up being an emotional support Beast?

"I'm sorry Dr Hank." She offers him while petting.'

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko is not known for her conflict resolution skills and she doesn't offer any bits of wisdom other than, "This sucks."  She retrieves her precious snacks and they appear in a neat little stack on the sand.  "...I'm going to finish up my food here so I don't have to carry it.  I'll see you in a little bit," she says to the girl as the bag is being zipped up.

Back to beached whale repose.  Noriko flops her arm over to grab a snack blindly and sets back down the empty wrapper in the next second, anchoring it by sticking into the sand a touch.